Patent Application
20240008705
The present disclosure relates to the field of robots, and in particular to a method and apparatus for identifying an obstacle, a medium and an electronic device.
A walking robot feeds ground conditions back to a computer through a sensor or a camera, the computer makes a judgment based on the ground conditions, and then the walking robot stably walks forwards, backwards, leftwards or rightwards. For example, a sweeping robot, also known as an automatic cleaning robot, a smart vacuum cleaner, a robot vacuum cleaner or the like, is a smart home device capable of automatically cleaning the ground, and can complete sweeping the floor in a room automatically by virtue of artificial intelligence.
At present, the walking robot has very limited ability to identify obstacles through the camera, and often misidentifies or fails to identify some obstacles (such as pet feces) due to their different shapes. If the sweeping robot misidentifies the pet feces, there will be a large area not swept; and if the sweeping robot fails to identify the pet feces, the pet feces may be smeared to clean regions, resulting in extremely poor user experience.
This section of Summary is provided to introduce the concepts in a simplified form that are described in detail in the section of Detailed Description. This section of Summary is not intended to define key features or essential features of the claimed technical solutions, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed technical solutions.
The present disclosure aims to provide a method and apparatus for identifying an obstacle, a medium and an electronic device, which can solve at least one of the technical problems mentioned above. Specific solutions are as follows.
According to specific embodiments of the present disclosure, in a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for identifying an obstacle, including:
In some embodiments, the identification feature information at least includes an obstacle type; and bypassing to the at least one position around the obstacle when the current identification feature information does not satisfy the identification condition includes: acquiring a current position of the obstacle; acquiring an marked obstacle type corresponding to the current position by querying an environment map based on the current position; and bypassing to the at least one position around the obstacle when the marked obstacle type does not match with a current obstacle type.
In some embodiments, the identification feature information further includes a confidence value of the obstacle type; and bypassing to the at least one position around the obstacle when the current identification feature information does not satisfy the identification condition includes: bypassing to the at least one position around the obstacle when a confidence value of the current obstacle type is less than a preset confidence threshold.
In some embodiments, determining the target type of the obstacle based on the all identification feature information of the obstacle includes: acquiring a statistical value of each obstacle type by performing classification statistics on all obstacle types of the obstacle; and determining an obstacle type corresponding to a maximum statistical value as the target type.
In some embodiments, determining the target type of the obstacle based on the all identification feature information of the obstacle includes: acquiring a first obstacle type with the confidence value greater than or equal to the preset confidence threshold by screening all confidence values of the obstacle; acquiring a statistical value of each first obstacle type by performing classification statistics on all first obstacle types; and determining a first obstacle type corresponding to a maximum statistical value as the target type.
In some embodiments, after determining the target type of the obstacle, the method further includes: determining the marked obstacle type as misidentification information when the marked obstacle type does not match with the current obstacle type.
In some embodiments, the method further includes: collecting actual region information of the obstacle when the obstacle is bypassed; and after determining the marked obstacle type as the misidentification information, the method further includes: transmitting the target type and the actual region information to the environment map.
According to specific embodiments of the present disclosure, in a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing a computer program thereon, where the program, when executed by a processor, implements the method for identifying the obstacle according to any one of the first aspect.
According to specific embodiments of the present disclosure, in a third aspect, the present disclosure provides an electronic device. The electronic device includes: one or more processors; and a storage apparatus configured to store one or more programs, where the one or more programs, when executed by the one or more processors, enables the one or more processors to implement the method for identifying the obstacle according to any one of the first aspect.
The above and other features, advantages and aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent with reference to accompanying drawings and the following specific embodiments. The same or similar reference signs indicate the same or similar elements throughout the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the accompanying drawings are exemplary and the components and elements are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the accompanying drawings:
The embodiments of the present disclosure are described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although some embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided for more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the accompanying drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are merely provided for the purpose of illustration, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
It should be understood that various steps described in the method embodiment of the present disclosure may be performed in different orders and/or in parallel. In addition, the method embodiment may include an additional step and/or omit implementation of an illustrated step. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.
The term “include” and variations thereof used herein are open-ended inclusions, i.e., “include(s) but are/is not limited to”. The term “based on” refers to “at least partially based on”. The term “one embodiment” means “at least one embodiment”. The term “another embodiment” means “at least one additional embodiment”. The term “some embodiments” means “at least some embodiments”. Relevant definitions of other terms will be given in the following description.
It should be noted that concepts such as “first” and “second” mentioned in the present disclosure are merely used to distinguish different apparatuses, modules or units, rather than limit an order or interdependence of functions executed by these apparatuses, modules or units.
It should be noted that “a/an” and “a plurality” mentioned in the present disclosure are illustrative and not restrictive, and those skilled in the art should understand that unless otherwise indicated clearly in the context, they should be understood as “one or more”.
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, names of messages or information exchanged among a plurality of apparatuses are only for purpose of illustration, and are not intended to limit the scope of these messages or information.
Optional embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The present disclosure provides a first embodiment, i.e., an embodiment of a method for identifying an obstacle.
A walking robot (such as a sweeping robot) has limited ability to identify obstacles through a camera, and often misidentifies or fails to identify some obstacles (such as pet feces) due to their different shapes. If the sweeping robot misidentifies the pet feces, there will be a large area not swept; and if the sweeping robot fails to identify the pet feces, the pet feces may be smeared to clean regions. In view of the above problems, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for identifying an obstacle.
The embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to
As shown in
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the walking robot collects image information through a camera. When detecting that the obstacle exists within a preset identification range (such as, a range in which the distance from the current obstacle is greater than or equal to 30 cm) during working, the walking robot (such as the sweeping robot) collects information of a current obstacle through the camera and acquires an obstacle type by analyzing the information of the current obstacle.
The identification feature information is a detection result generated by the walking robot based on the information of the current obstacle. The identification feature information includes an obstacle type and a confidence value of the obstacle type. The obstacle type is an identification result for the current obstacle and used to distinguish different obstacles. The obstacle type includes a name of the obstacle. The confidence value is a judgement on the reliability of the acquired obstacle type and usually expressed as a percentage. For example, when the current obstacle is a pot of cactus, the walking robot acquires that the obstacle type is a cactus type and the confidence value is 90% after collecting information of the pot of cactus. However, due to the influences of a shooting angle and a shooting environment, the acquired obstacle type may be a lotus root type and the confidence value is 60%, which may result in misidentification and mis-operations. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the walking robot is provided with reliability information after judging the current obstacle type through the identification feature information, which prompts the walking robot to further confirm the unreliable obstacle during the walking process, thereby avoiding misidentification and identification failure.
In step S102, bypassing to at least one position around the obstacle is performed when the current identification feature information does not satisfy an identification condition, and identification feature information of the obstacle at each position is correspondingly acquired.
In order to avoid interference of single identification feature information on the identification result, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, when the current identification feature information does not satisfy the identification condition, the walking robot is controlled to acquire the identification feature information of the current obstacle from a plurality of angles and at a plurality of positions around the current obstacle, so as to improve the reliability of the final identification result.
The embodiment of the present disclosure provides two judgment methods for judging whether the current identification feature information satisfies the identification condition or not.
First Judgment Method
Bypassing to the at least one position around the obstacle when the current identification feature information does not satisfy the identification condition includes the following steps.
In step S102-11, a current position of the obstacle is acquired.
The current position may be any position or a plurality of positions where the current obstacle is located.
In step S102-12, a marked obstacle type corresponding to the current position is acquired by querying an environment map based on the current position.
The environment map is a digital map displayed on a terminal. Each obstacle in the current environment is digitally marked in the environment map with a digital region occupied by the obstacle and the obstacle type in the digital region. A position in the environment map has a mapping relationship with a position measured in the actual environment. For a position in the actual environment, there is a corresponding position in the environment map. For example, an actual region occupied by walls and furnishings in a room is marked in the environment map with a digital region occupied by walls and furnishings; and an actual region occupied by a temporarily placed item (such as a flowerpot) is marked in the environment map with a digital region occupied by the temporarily placed item.
There is a corresponding position in the environment map for the current position of the current obstacle. If the corresponding position is in a digital region, this digital region is a marked region in the environment map after identifying the obstacle last time by the walking robot, and the marked obstacle type may be acquired through the digital region.
In step S102-13, bypassing to the at least one position around the obstacle is performed, when the marked obstacle type does not match with a current obstacle type.
The marked obstacle type not matching with the current obstacle type indicates two possibilities: one is that the last identification result may be wrong, that is, the last identification result may be misidentification; and the other is that the obstacle type marked in the first digital region corresponding to the current position is not the same as the current obstacle type, that is, the obstacle at the current position may have changed from the obstacle identified last time, and is not the same type of obstacle. This indicates that misidentification may exist as the current identification result is different from a result marked in the environment map after the last identification.
Second Judgment Method
Bypassing to the at least one position around the obstacle when the current identification feature information does not satisfy the identification condition includes the following steps.
In step S102-21, bypassing to the at least one position around the obstacle is performed when a confidence value of the current obstacle type is less than a preset confidence threshold.
The confidence value of the current obstacle type being less than the preset confidence threshold indicates that the current identification is in doubt.
In order to determine the obstacle type of the current obstacle, the reliability of acquiring a target type of the current obstacle is improved. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the walking robot is controlled to bypass the current obstacle, a plurality of pieces of identification feature information of the current obstacle at the plurality of positions and from the plurality of angles is acquired, and the target type of the current obstacle is determined through the plurality of pieces of identification feature information.
In step S103, the target type of the obstacle is determined based on all identification feature information of the obstacle.
Due to the influence of environmental factors, after information of the obstacle at each position and from each angle is identified, the acquired obstacle types may be different, which affects the confirmation of the target type of the current obstacle. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the target type of the current obstacle is acquired by comprehensively analyzing the all identification feature information of the current obstacle.
Specifically, the following steps are included.
In step S103-11, a statistical value of each obstacle type is acquired by performing classification statistics on all obstacle types of the obstacle.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the statistical value of each obstacle type is acquired by performing classification statistics on all obstacle types. For example, the obstacle types include the cactus type and the lotus root type, the statistical value of the obstacle type being the cactus type is 18, and the statistical value of the obstacle type being the lotus root type is 2.
In S103-12, the obstacle type corresponding to the maximum statistical value is determined as the target type.
For example, continuing the example above, as the statistical value of the obstacle type being the cactus type is 18, i.e., the maximum statistical value, the cactus type is determined as the target type of the current obstacle.
Further, in order to eliminate interference of ineffective data, determining the target type of the obstacle based on the all identification feature information of the obstacle includes the following steps.
In step S103-21, a first obstacle type with the confidence value greater than or equal to the preset confidence threshold is acquired by screening all confidence values of the obstacle.
By the confidence value being greater than or equal to the preset confidence threshold, the obstacle types with low reliability are eliminated, and the first obstacle type with high reliability is acquired.
In step S103-22, a statistical value of each first obstacle type is acquired by performing classification statistics on all first obstacle types.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the statistical value of each obstacle type is acquired by performing classification statistics on all first obstacle types with high reliability. For example, the obstacle types include the cactus type and the lotus root type, the statistical value of the obstacle type being the cactus type is 18, and the statistical value of the obstacle type being the lotus root type is 2.
In step S103-23, the first obstacle type corresponding to the maximum statistical value is determined as the target type.
For example, continuing the example above, as the statistical value of the obstacle type being the cactus type is 18, i.e., the maximum statistical value, the cactus type is determined as the target type of the current obstacle.
Optionally, after the target type of the obstacle is determined, the following step is further included.
In step S104, the marked obstacle type is determined as misidentification information when the marked obstacle type does not match with the current obstacle type.
In order to keep actual information identical with digital information in the environment map, actual region information of the obstacle is collected when the obstacle is bypassed.
Optionally, after the marked obstacle type is determined as misidentification information, the following step is further included.
In S105, the target type and the actual region information are transmitted to the environment map.
Thus, a digital region corresponding to the actual region information is drawn in the environment map and the obstacle type of the obstacle is marked in the digital region.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the obstacle is identified; the obstacle is bypassed when the identification feature information does not satisfy the identification condition, and identification feature information of the current obstacle at a plurality of positions is continued to be collected; and the target type of the obstacle is determined based on all identification feature information. Thus, the misidentification rate is reduced and the identification reliability is improved, thereby avoiding misjudgment or judgment failure. Corresponding to the first embodiment provided by the present disclosure, the present disclosure further provides a second embodiment, i.e., an apparatus for identifying an obstacle. As the second embodiment is basically similar to the first embodiment, the second embodiment is described relatively simply. For related parts, reference may be made to the corresponding description of the first embodiment. The apparatus embodiment described below is merely exemplary.
As shown in
Optionally, the identification feature information at least includes an obstacle type.
The bypassing unit 302 includes:
Optionally, the identification feature information further includes a confidence value of the obstacle type.
The bypassing unit 302 includes:
Optionally, the determination unit 303 includes:
Optionally, the determination unit 303 includes:
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
Optionally, the apparatus further includes:
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the obstacle is identified; the obstacle is bypassed when the identification feature information does not satisfy the identification condition, and identification feature information of the current obstacle at a plurality of positions is continued to be collected; and the target type of the obstacle is determined based on all identification feature information. Thus, the misidentification rate is reduced, and the identification reliability is improved, thereby avoiding misjudgment or judgment failure.
A third embodiment of the present disclosure provides an electronic device, used for a method for identifying an obstacle. The electronic device includes at least one processor, and a memory in communication connection with the at least one processor.
The memory stores with instructions executable by the at least one processor, the instructions are executed by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to execute the method for identifying an Obstacle according to the first embodiment.
A fourth embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer storage medium for identifying an obstacle. The computer storage medium stores with computer-executable instructions which can implement the method for identifying an obstacle according to the first embodiment.
Referring to
As shown in
Generally, the following apparatuses may be connected to the I/O interface 405: an input apparatus 406 including, for example, a touch screen, a touchpad, a keyboard, a mouse, a camera, a microphone, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and the like; an output apparatus 407 including, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a speaker, a vibrator and the like; a storage apparatus 408 including, for example, a magnetic tape, a hard disk and the like; and a communication apparatus 409. The communication apparatus 409 can allow the electronic device to carry out wired or wireless communication with other devices so as to exchange data. Although
Particularly, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the process described above with reference to the flow chart may be implemented as a computer software program. For example, a computer program product is provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which includes a computer program carried on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, where the computer program includes a program code for executing the method shown in the flow chart. In such an embodiment, the computer program may be downloaded from the network by the communication apparatus 409 and installed, or installed from the storage apparatus 408, or installed from the ROM 402. When the computer program is executed by the processing apparatus 401, the above functions defined in the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure are executed.
It should be noted that the above storage medium in the present disclosure may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium, or any combination of the two. The computer-readable storage medium may be, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or a combination of any of the above. More specific examples of the computer-readable storage medium may include, but not limited to: an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above. In the present disclosure, the computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium which includes or stores a program, and the program may be used by or in combination with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In the present disclosure, the computer-readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in a baseband or as part of a carrier wave, and a computer-readable program code is carried therein. This propagated data signal may be in many forms, including but not limited to an electromagnetic signal, an optical signal, or any suitable combination of the above. The computer-readable signal medium may also be any computer-readable medium other than the computer-readable storage medium, and the computer-readable signal medium may send, propagate, or transmit the program for use by or in combination with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The program code included on the storage medium may be transmitted by any suitable medium, including, but not limited to: a wire, an optical cable, RF (radio frequency), etc., or any suitable combination of the above.
In some embodiments, the client and the server can communicate with each other by using any currently known or future-developed network protocol, for example, an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), and can be interconnected with digital data communication of any form or any medium (for example, a communication network). Examples of the communication network include a local region network (LAN), a wide region network (WAN), an internet network (for example, the Internet), and an end-to-end network (for example, an ad hoc end-to-end network), and any currently known or future-developed network.
The above computer-readable storage medium may be included in the above electronic device, or may exist alone without being assembled into the electronic device.
The computer program code for executing the operations of the present disclosure may be written in one or more programming languages or a combination thereof. The above programming languages include, but not limited to, object-oriented programming languages, such as Java, Smalltalk and C++, and further include conventional procedural programming languages, such as “C” language or similar programming languages. The program code may be executed entirely on a user computer, partly on the user computer, as an independent software package, partly on the user computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or a server. In the case of relating a remote computer, the remote computer may be connected to the user computer through any type of network, including the LAN or WAN, or may be connected to an external computer (for example, may be connected through the Internet using an Internet service provider).
The flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings of the present disclosure show the possible architecture, functions, and operations of the system, the method, and the computer program product to be implemented according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowcharts or block diagrams can represent a module, a program segment or a part of codes, and the module, the program segment or the part of the codes includes one or more executable instructions for implementing the defined logical functions. It should also be noted that in some implementations as alternatives, the functions labeled in the blocks can occur in an order different from the order labeled in the accompanying drawings. For example, two sequentially shown blocks can be substantially executed in parallel in fact, and they sometimes can also be executed in a reverse order, depending on related functions. It should also be noted that each block in the block diagrams and/or the flowcharts and the combination of the blocks in the block diagrams and/or the flowcharts can be implemented by a dedicated system based on hardware for executing defined functions or operations, or can be implemented by a combination of the dedicated hardware and computer instructions.
The units described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in a software fashion or may be implemented in a hardware fashion. The names of the units do not constitute a limitation to the units in some cases.
The functions described above herein may be performed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components. For example, non-restrictively, exemplary types of hardware logic components that can be used include: a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an application-specific standard product (ASSP), a system on chip (SOC), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and the like.
In the context of the present disclosure, a machine-readable medium may be a tangible medium that may include or store a program for use by or in combination with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium may include, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the machine-readable storage medium include an electrical connection based on one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (an EPROM or a flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above content.
Compared with the related art, the above solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure have at least the following benefits.
The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for identifying the obstacle, a medium and an electronic device. In the present disclosure, the obstacle is identified; the obstacle is bypassed if the identification feature information does not satisfy the identification condition, and identification feature information of the current obstacle at multiple positions is continuously collected; and the target type of the obstacle is determined based on all the identification feature information. Thus, the misidentification rate is reduced, and the identification reliability is improved, thereby avoiding misjudgment or judgment failure.
The foregoing description is only the description of preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and the used technical principle. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of the present disclosure in the present disclosure is not limited to a technical solution formed by a specific combination of the technical features. In addition, other technical solutions formed by any combination of the foregoing technical features or equivalent features thereof shall be covered without departing from the concept of the present disclosure. For example, the technical solutions formed by mutual replacement between the foregoing features and the technical features having similar functions (however, the technical features are not limited thereto) disclosed in the present disclosure shall be encompassed.
Furthermore, although a specific order is used to depict the operations, this should not be interpreted that these operations are required to be performed in the specific order shown or in sequential order of execution. Multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous in particular environments. In addition, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as a limit to the scope of the present disclosure. Some features described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination.
Although the present subject matter has been described using language specific to structural features and/or method logical actions, it should be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the particular features or actions described above. Rather, the particular features and actions described above are merely exemplary forms of implementing the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202011228693.1 | Nov 2020 | CN | national |
This application is a US national phase of a PCT application under PCT/CN2021/100714, which claims priority of the Chinese Patent Application No. 202011228693.1, filed on Nov. 6, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2021/100714 | 6/17/2021 | WO |
