CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the National Phase of PCT International Application No. PCT/KR2019/001260, filed on Jan. 30, 2019, all of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a stock management robot and a method of controlling the same, and more particularly to a robot system capable of counting the quantity of products arranged on a shelf and providing a management service and a method of controlling the same.

BACKGROUND ART

Robots have been developed for industrial purposes and have taken charge of a portion of factory automation. In recent years, the number of fields in which robots are utilized has increased. As a result, a medical robot and an aerospace robot have been developed. In addition, a home robot usable at home is being manufactured. Among such robots, a robot capable of autonomously traveling is called a mobile robot.

With an increase in the use of robots, the demand for robots capable of providing various kinds of information, entertainment, and services in addition to repeated performance of simple functions has increased.

As a result, a communication robot disposed in homed, stores, and public facilities so as to communicate with people is being developed.

In addition, various kinds of services using a mobile robot that is capable of autonomously traveling have been proposed. For example, a prior document (Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2017-0094103, Publication Date: Aug. 17, 2017) proposes a method of automatically investigating stock of products in a pallet track shelf in a logistics warehouse using an autonomous traveling robot and a 3D laser scanner.

According to the prior document, the stock quantity of product boxes in the pallet track shelf in the logistics warehouse is calculated. However, it is not possible to provide other services useful for stock management and product sales in addition to calculation of the stock quantity of product boxes.

In addition, according to the prior document, it is not possible to check the stock quantity of products placed in the inside of a shelf in a store, such as a large-scale mart or a shopping mall, whereby the method disclosed in the prior art is not suitable for a large-scale mart, in which products are arranged on a shelf in a line.

DISCLOSURE

Technical Problem

It is an object of the present invention to provide a robot capable of counting the quantity of products arranged on a shelf and a method of controlling the same.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a robot capable of counting the quantity of products arranged on a shelf even in the case in which the products are arranged on the shelf in a line and thus it is not possible to acquire an image of the inside of the shelf and a method of controlling the same.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a robot capable of moving products and a method of controlling the same.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a robot capable of moving products to the front of a shelf in the case in which a front space of the shelf is empty such that shopping customers can more easily retrieve the products, thereby improving customer convenience and sales efficiency, and a method of controlling the same.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a robot capable of managing stock of products arranged on a shelf while autonomously moving and a method of controlling the same.

Technical Solution

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a robot and a method of controlling the same, wherein the robot manages stock of products arranged on a shelf while autonomously moving.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a robot and a method of controlling the same, wherein a robot arm is operated to count the quantity of products arranged on a shelf and to move the products.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a robot and a method of controlling the same, wherein a robot arm is moved until a pressure sensor provided at the robot arm senses a predetermined pressure, and the quantity of products arranged on a shelf is counted based on the operation of the robot arm.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a stock management robot including a driving unit for moving a main body, an image acquisition unit including at least one camera disposed on one surface of the main body, a robot arm, at least a portion of which is extended so as to be far away from the main body, is introduced between a shelf and products arranged on the shelf, and is pulled toward the main body, and a control unit for performing control such that the robot arm is pulled toward the main body until a pressure sensor provided at the robot arm senses a predetermined pressure and counting the quantity of products arranged on the shelf based on the movement distance of the robot arm and the thickness of each product determined from an image of the products acquired through the image acquisition unit.

The control unit may control the operation of the robot arm such that the products arranged on the shelf are pulled toward the main body, whereby the products are moved to the front of a display stand.

The robot arm may be rotatable at least 90 degrees, and the control unit may perform control such that the robot arm is rotated based on at least one of the kind, size, or arrangement form of the products arranged on the shelf so as to be introduced between the shelf and the products arranged on the shelf.

In addition, the robot arm may be movable in the longitudinal direction of the main body, and the control unit may perform control such that the robot arm is moved in the longitudinal direction in response to the height of the shelf.

The robot arm may include a moving unit configured to be pulled toward to the main body after being introduced between the shelf and the products arranged on the shelf, a stationary unit, to which the pressure sensor is mounted, and a linear actuator for length adjustment.

In this case, the control unit may extend the linear actuator such that the moving unit is introduced between the shelf and the products arranged on the shelf, may rotate the moving unit when the moving unit reaches a target position, may monitor a value sensed by the pressure sensor mounted to the stationary unit while pulling the linear actuator, and may perform control such that the operation of the linear actuator is stopped when the pressure sensor senses the predetermined pressure.

In addition, the moving unit may include a contact portion configured to contact the products, and at least the product that contacts the contact portion may be pulled according to movement of the moving unit.

In addition, the stationary unit may be fixed to the closest product or to the end of the shelf.

Meanwhile, the stock management robot may further include a communication unit for communicating with a server.

The control unit may perform control such that the communication unit transmits the image of the products acquired through the image acquisition unit or product information identified based on the image of the products acquired through the image acquisition unit to the server and receives information about the thickness of each product from the server.

In addition, the control unit may perform control such that information about the quantity of products is transmitted to the server through the communication unit.

The robot arm may be received in the main body in a standby state.

The robot arm may include a pair of robot arms disposed so as to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and the robot arms may be extended from the left side and the right side of the main body, respectively, in order to pull products between the robot arms toward the main body.

The image acquisition unit may include a plurality of cameras disposed in the longitudinal direction of the main body, and the control unit may recognize the shelf and the products arranged on the shelf based on a panoramic image obtained by composing images acquired through the cameras.

The stock management robot may further include a storage unit for storing information about a display stand including the shelf.

Advantageous Effects

According to at least one of the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to count the quantity of products arranged on a shelf. Particularly, even in the case in which products are arranged on a shelf in a line and thus it is not possible to acquire an image of the inside of the shelf, it is possible to count the quantity of products, thereby improving convenience and accuracy.

In addition, according to at least one of the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to move products and to move the products to the front of a shelf in the case in which a front space of the shelf is empty such that customers can more easily retrieve the products, thereby improving customer convenience and sales efficiency.

In addition, according to at least one of the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to manage stock of products arranged on a shelf while autonomously moving.

Various other effects of the present invention will be directly or suggestively disclosed in the following detailed description of the invention.

