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KR-20260063575-A - ASmall Mobile Robot Linkage Serving Robot System with Table Dropping Function

KR20260063575AKR 20260063575 AKR20260063575 AKR 20260063575AKR-20260063575-A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a serving robot system used to deliver tableware (or tableware containing food) or items necessary for a meal to a guest, and more specifically, to a small unmanned mobile robot-linked serving robot system comprising a small mobile robot capable of carrying food and boarding or disembarking from the serving robot.

Inventors

  • 이상민
  • 최남호

Assignees

  • 이상민

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20241030

Claims (6)

  1. A small unmanned mobile interlocking serving robot system comprising a serving robot (100); and a small mobile robot (200) that gets on and off the serving robot, wherein The above serving robot is configured to include at least one movable plate (120) that provides a flat surface on which a small mobile robot can board the serving robot, a camera (130) that acquires image information (131) of a space including a flat surface (Table-1) on which the small mobile robot is waiting to board and a flat surface (Table-2) on which it is scheduled to disembark, an analysis unit (140) that detects position information (141a) of an object from the image information acquired by the camera, and a movable plate driving unit (150) that moves the movable plate up and down. The above analysis unit is based on the location information of the detected object Height information (142a) of a moving plate for a small mobile robot to board a serving robot on a flat surface (Table-1, Table-2) and Additional height information (142b) of a moving plate for a small mobile robot to unload from a serving robot onto a flat surface (Table-1, Table-2) is calculated. A small unmanned mobile-linked serving robot system characterized by the above-described drive unit moving and positioning a movable plate up and down in response to height information calculated by the analysis unit.
  2. In paragraph 1, The above analysis unit additionally performs the function of demarcating areas where a small mobile robot can move and areas where it cannot move on a plane (Table-1, Table-2). The above serving robot and small mobile robot additionally include communication modules (160a, 160b) for transmitting and receiving information with other devices. A small mobile robot is a small unmanned mobile vehicle-linked serving robot system characterized by setting a movable range according to area information partitioned by the analysis unit of the serving robot.
  3. In paragraph 2, It further includes at least one table tray (170) for holding food utensils that are served or food utensils that need to be retrieved, which has at least one incision (171) that is continuously vertically penetrating from the outer end portion in the inner direction and is arranged on a plane (Table-1, Table-2). The above small mobile robot is configured to include a mobile drive unit (210) for movement, an upper plate (220) for loading tableware containing food, and a coupling unit (230) that mechanically connects the drive unit and the upper plate. A small unmanned mobile vehicle interlocking serving robot system characterized in that at least a portion of the above-mentioned joint has an outer diameter shorter than the minimum width of the cut portion, so that the joint portion of the small mobile robot can enter or exit the inside of the table tray along the cut portion.
  4. In paragraph 3, A small unmanned mobile interlocking serving robot system characterized by the above-mentioned small mobile robot additionally including a coupling driving unit (240) that moves the coupling unit up and down.
  5. In any one of paragraphs 3 to 4, A small unmanned mobile-linked serving robot system characterized in that at least a portion contacting the cut portion of the table tray has a multi-stage structure having different thicknesses and/or heights.
  6. In paragraph 5, A small unmanned mobile-linked serving robot system characterized in that at least a portion of the last section of the table tray in contact with the cut section in contact with the cut section has a thickness and/or height that increases from the outer end to the center.

Description

Small Mobile Robot Linkage Serving Robot System with Table Dropping Function The present invention relates to a serving robot system used to deliver tableware (or tableware containing food) or items necessary for a meal to a guest, and more specifically, to a small unmanned mobile robot-linked serving robot system comprising a small mobile robot capable of carrying food and boarding or disembarking from the serving robot. A serving robot is a type of food tech robot that utilizes autonomous driving technology to recognize objects, including people, in spaces such as restaurants, and performs the role of delivering and retrieving food or items necessary for a meal to the place (table) where the orderer is located. Serving robots of various sizes, shapes, and functions have been developed and released both domestically and internationally, and in Korea, not only small and medium-sized enterprises but also major corporations in the home appliance and telecommunications sectors have been competing to launch diverse types of serving robots and related services. For example, LG Electronics’ CLOi ServeBot recognizes space using a LiDAR sensor and a 3D camera, expands the driving range, and enables communication between robots without an AP, allowing more than 10 robots to be operated stably in the same space. Although the adoption of serving robots is rapidly increasing due to social factors such as the development of artificial intelligence and communication technologies related to serving robots, represented by autonomous driving, the spread of contactless culture triggered by COVID-19, and increased labor costs, the function of loading and unloading tableware (or tableware containing food) or items necessary for meals onto and off serving robots has not yet been implemented. However, although serving robots equipped with one or more robot arms or serving robots that operate in conjunction with separately installed robot arms have been presented through research and development reports and patent literature, it is known that they have not yet reached full-scale commercialization due to the need for high-spec robot arms to load and unload tableware of various shapes and various items required for meals onto the serving robot. Such functional limitations of serving robots are acting as one of the major factors hindering their widespread adoption, despite the popularization of contactless culture and the continuous increase in labor costs. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a small mobile robot-integrated serving robot system having a table unloading function. The present invention will be described in detail as follows with reference to the attached drawings, FIG. 1, claims, etc. The present invention relates to a small unmanned mobile-linked serving robot system comprising a serving robot and a small mobile robot that boards and disembarks from the serving robot, wherein the serving robot comprises at least one movable plate that provides a flat surface on which the small mobile robot can board the serving robot, a camera that acquires image information regarding a space including a flat surface (Table-1) where the small mobile robot is waiting to board and a flat surface (Table-2) where it is scheduled to disembark, an analysis unit that detects position information of an object from the image information acquired by the camera, and a movable plate driving unit that moves the movable plate up and down, wherein the analysis unit further calculates height information of the movable plate for boarding the small mobile robot from the flat surface (Table-1, Table-2) and height information of the movable plate for disembarking the small mobile robot from the serving robot to the flat surface (Table-1, Table-2) based on the detected position information of the object, and the driving unit moves and positions the movable plate up and down in correspondence with the height information calculated by the analysis unit. Here, the serving robot is a serving robot with autonomous driving capabilities that is developed, manufactured, and sold by numerous domestic and international manufacturers. Components such as cameras and analysis units are also widely used in serving robots. The camera can be composed of RGB cameras, spectroscopic cameras, LiDAR sensors, etc., and the analysis unit can be composed of various computing devices including CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, and microprocessors. A processor with minimal functions can be installed in the serving robot, and it can be configured to operate in conjunction with a processor located in a high-spec computer installed outside the serving robot via a communication device. Additionally, various artificial intelligence models including YOLO, SSD, EfficientDet, and R-CNN can be utilized to detect objects and analyze location information. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a small unmanned mobile-linked serving robot system characterized in that the analysis unit additionally perf