Autonomous mobile robot for handling job assignments in a physical environment inhabited by stationary and non-stationary obstacles

摘要

An intelligent mobile robot having a robot base controller and an onboard navigation system that, in response to receiving a job assignment specifying a job location that is associated with one or more job operations, activates the onboard navigation system to automatically determine a path the mobile robot should use to drive to the job location, automatically determines that using an initially-selected path could cause the mobile robot to run into stationary or non-stationary obstacles, such as people or other mobile robots, in the physical environment, automatically determines a new path to avoid the stationary and non-stationary obstacles, and automatically drives the mobile robot to the job location using the new path, thereby avoiding contact or collisions with those obstacles. After the mobile robot arrives at the job location, it automatically performs said one or more job operations associated with that job location.

主权项

1. A mobile robot for handling a job assignment in a physical environment inhabited by stationary and non-stationary obstacles, the mobile robot comprising:
a) a robot base, comprising
(i) a map defining a floor plan for the physical environment, a set of job locations in respect to the floor plan, and associating a set of job operations with two or more job locations in the set of job locations;(ii) a robot base controller that receives the job assignment, the job assignment including a specified job location without specifying a job operation, the specified job location being associated by the map with said set of job operations; and(iii) an onboard navigation system; b) wherein, in response to receiving the job assignment, the onboard navigation system automatically
(i) determines a floor plan location based on the job assignment and the map, the floor plan location representing an actual location in the physical environment,(ii) determines, in accordance with the map, that moving the mobile robot from the mobile robot's current position to the floor plan location by driving the mobile robot along a first path will cause the mobile robot to come into contact with one of said stationary and non-stationary obstacles in the physical environment,(iii) generates a second path from the mobile robot's current position to the floor plan location, in accordance with the map, to avoid said contact, and(iv) drives the mobile robot to the actual location represented by the floor plan location using the second path; and c) the robot base controller causes the mobile robot to automatically perform said set of job operations associated in the map with the specified job location after the mobile robot arrives at the actual location; d) wherein the set of job operations associated with the specified job location in the map is different from the set of one or more job operations associated with another job location in the map.