EP-4741977-A1 - AUTONOMOUS MOBILE DEVICE, AND CONTROL METHOD AND APPARATUS THEREFOR, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

EP4741977A1EP 4741977 A1EP4741977 A1EP 4741977A1EP-4741977-A1

Abstract

An autonomous mobile apparatus, a control method and device thereof, and a storage medium. The control method for the autonomous mobile apparatus comprises: determining whether a first obstacle exists within a first spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus based on a point cloud data in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus (S120); based on the determination that the first obstacle does not exist within the first spatial range, determining whether an impassable under-clearance obstacle exists within a second spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus based on the point cloud data in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, the second spatial range is above the first spatial range, the under-clearance obstacle is different from the first obstacle, the under-clearance obstacle has a lower space at its lower part that allows at least a part of the autonomous mobile apparatus to enter (S130); and executing an obstacle avoidance operation to avoid the impassable under-clearance obstacle based on the determination that the impassable under-clearance obstacle exists within the second spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus (S140). Therefore, the under-clearance obstacle may be determined and avoided.

Inventors

GAO, Shaoxuan

Assignees

Qfeeltech (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20240704

Claims (10)

A control method for an autonomous mobile apparatus, comprising: a first determination step, determining whether a first obstacle exists within a first spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus based on a point cloud data in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus; a second determination step, responsive to a determination that the first obstacle does not exist within the first spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, determining whether an impassable under-clearance obstacle exists within a second spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus based on the point cloud data in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, the second spatial range is above the first spatial range, wherein the under-clearance obstacle is different from the first obstacle, the under-clearance obstacle has a lower space at its lower part that is configured to allow at least a part of the autonomous mobile apparatus to enter, and the lower space of the impassable under-clearance obstacle does not allow the autonomous mobile apparatus to completely enter or pass; and an execution step, executing an obstacle avoidance operation to avoid the impassable under-clearance obstacle based on a determination that the impassable under-clearance obstacle exists within the second spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus.
The control method according to claim 1, wherein the first determination step comprises: determining whether a first quantity of point cloud data within the first spatial range reaches a first quantity threshold, where the first spatial range is a first area that is at a first distance from a front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, which has a first length, a first width, and a first height, and the first height is greater than or equal to a maximum height of the autonomous mobile apparatus other than a protrusion part of the mobile apparatus; and based on a determination that the first quantity does not reach the first quantity threshold, determining that the first obstacle does not exist within the first spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus.
The control method according to claim 1, wherein the second determination step comprises: determining whether a second quantity of point cloud data within the second spatial range reaches a second quantity threshold, wherein the second spatial range is a second area that is at a second distance from the front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, which has a second length, a second width, and a second height; determining whether a product of a maximum length of laser points within the second area and a maximum width of the laser points is greater than an area threshold; based on a determination that the second quantity reaches the second quantity threshold, and a determination that the product of the maximum length of the laser points within the second area and the maximum width of the laser points is greater than the area threshold, determining that the impassable under-clearance obstacle exists within the second spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus.
The control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein before the first determination step, the control method further comprises: a third determination step, determining whether the point cloud data is acquirable normally by the autonomous mobile apparatus based on the point cloud data below the autonomous mobile apparatus, based on a determination that the point cloud data is acquirable normally by the autonomous mobile apparatus, the first determination step is executed.
The control method according to claim 4, wherein the third determination step comprises: determining whether a third quantity of point cloud data within a third spatial range reaches a third quantity threshold; based on a determination that the third quantity reaches the third quantity threshold, determining that the point cloud data is acquirable normally by the autonomous mobile apparatus, wherein the third spatial range is a third area with a center of the autonomous mobile apparatus as an origin, a radius of the autonomous mobile apparatus as a radius, and a height thereof as a third height.
The control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein executing the obstacle avoidance operation comprises: causing the autonomous mobile apparatus to retreat a first distance from a current location and causing the autonomous mobile apparatus to rotate by a first angle.
A control device of an autonomous mobile apparatus, comprising: a first determination part configured to determine whether a first obstacle exists within a first spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus based on a point cloud data in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus; a second determination part configured to determine, based on the determination that the first obstacle does not exist within the first spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, whether an impassable under-clearance obstacle exists within a second spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus based on the point cloud data in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, the second spatial range is above the first spatial range, wherein the under-clearance obstacle is different from the first obstacle, the under-clearance obstacle has a lower space at its lower part that is configured to allow at least a part of the autonomous mobile apparatus to enter, and the lower space of the impassable under-clearance obstacle does not allow the autonomous mobile apparatus to completely enter or pass; and an execution part configured to execute an obstacle avoidance operation to avoid the impassable under-clearance obstacle based on the determination that the impassable under-clearance obstacle exists within the second spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus.
A control device for an autonomous mobile apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the control method according to any of claims 1 to 6.
An autonomous mobile apparatus, comprising: a motion part configured to move the autonomous mobile apparatus over a work surface in a work area; and the control device according to claim 7 or 8.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein when instructions in the storage medium are executed by a processor, the processor is enabled to execute the control method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the field of smart home technologies, and in particular, to an autonomous mobile apparatus, a control method and device thereof, and a storage medium. BACKGROUND Generally, an autonomous mobile apparatus needs to autonomously move within a working space (for example, a house of a user), and determine an obstacle and a passable area based on different types of sensors, to avoid the obstacle and enter the passable area for working. For example, a front obstacle (such as a wall, a refrigerator, or a floor cabinet) is sensed through a front collision by using a collision sensor, and a front or side relatively short-distance obstacle (such as a wall) is sensed by using a proximity sensor. The autonomous mobile apparatus may take avoidance or escape actions based on the information of the above sensors to avoid these obstacles. However, in the related art, an autonomous mobile apparatus, especially an autonomous mobile apparatus with an obvious protrusion part (for example, a turret provided with a laser radar) on an upper surface, may encounter an under-clearance obstacle with a certain space below during operation, and may be difficult to escape. An under-clearance obstacle refers to an object with a lower space at its lower part, such as furniture with a space at the lower part thereof, such as a bed, a table, a cabinet, a sofa, etc., supported by legs. According to the size of the lower space of the under-clearance obstacle, it can be divided into a passable under-clearance obstacle that can allow all of the autonomous mobile apparatus to enter or pass, and an impassable under-clearance obstacle that can only allow a part of the autonomous mobile apparatus to enter but cannot allow the autonomous mobile apparatus to pass. When the autonomous mobile apparatus enters the lower space of the under-clearance obstacle, the under-clearance obstacle is located above the autonomous mobile apparatus, and for the autonomous mobile apparatus that can only perceive the front and side obstacles, when the autonomous mobile apparatus enters the lower space, the protrusion part may be easily stuck at the bottom of the under-clearance obstacle, and it is also easy to damage the sensor of the autonomous mobile apparatus and cause damage to the under-clearance obstacle (such as a wall or furniture) that the autonomous mobile apparatus collides with. A method for solving this problem in the related art is generally as follows: in a process that an autonomous mobile apparatus is entering an under-clearance obstacle, a sensor provided at a lower position of a front part of the autonomous mobile apparatus relative to a protrusion part detects whether there is an obstacle at a set distance above the autonomous mobile apparatus, but due to a fast running speed of the autonomous mobile apparatus, a short warning distance, and a calculation delay of a processor, it is still possible that when the autonomous mobile apparatus that has partially entered a bottom of the under-clearance obstacle has not yet determined the risk, the protrusion part of the autonomous mobile apparatus has already been stuck by the bottom of the under-clearance obstacle or trapped in a lower space of the under-clearance obstacle, and damage to the autonomous mobile apparatus, furniture, and home appliances still cannot be avoided. SUMMARY In view of this, the present disclosure provides an autonomous mobile apparatus, a control method and device thereof, and a storage medium, so that an impassable under-clearance obstacle in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus can be determined and avoided as early as possible, thereby effectively avoiding the autonomous mobile apparatus from being stuck or trapped in a lower space of the impassable under-clearance obstacle, and avoiding damage to a sensor of the autonomous mobile apparatus and the impassable under-clearance obstacle. According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control method of an autonomous mobile apparatus, comprising: a first determination step, configured to determine whether a first obstacle exists within a first spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus according to a point cloud data in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus; a second determination step, configured to determine, based on the determination that the first obstacle does not exist within the first spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, whether an impassable under-clearance obstacle exists within a second spatial range in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus according to the point cloud data in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus, the second spatial range is above the first spatial range, wherein the under-clearance obstacle is different from the first obstacle, the under-clearance obstacle has a lower space at its lower part that is configured to allow at least a part of the autonomous mobile apparatus to enter