Patent Publication Number: US-2020290843-A1

Title: System For Mobile Robot To Autonomously Take Elevator

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of the filing date under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) of Chinese Patent Application No. 201910197908.9, filed on Mar. 15, 2019. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an elevator and, more particularly, to a system for a mobile robot to autonomously or automatically take an elevator. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In order to ensure the safety of elevators, third parties are generally not allowed to make any modifications to the elevators. Therefore, in the prior art, a mobile robot cannot control the elevator by communicating with the elevator control system. The mobile robot, consequently, can only move on a single floor and cannot move to another floor by autonomously taking the elevator; the elevator must be manually operated by a worker to transport the mobile robot to another floor if there is a need to move the mobile robot to another floor, limiting the application of mobile robots. 
     SUMMARY 
     A system for a mobile robot to autonomously take an elevator includes an elevator button pressing module mounted on an elevator floor control panel of the elevator. The elevator button pressing module communicates with the mobile robot wirelessly and is adapted to press a pair of elevator buttons on the elevator floor control panel according to an instruction issued by the mobile robot to call an elevator car. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying Figures, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of an elevator button pressing module according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is a rear perspective view of the elevator button pressing module; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of an elevator floor door and an elevator floor control panel according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the elevator button pressing module mounted on the elevator floor control panel; and 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a mobile robot using the elevator button pressing module. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S) 
     The technical solution of the disclosure will be described in detail in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the specification, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar components. The following description of the embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings is intended to explain the general inventive concept of the disclosure and should not be construed as a limitation of the present disclosure. 
     In addition, in the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the disclosure. However, one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in schematic form in order to simplify the drawing. 
     A system for a mobile robot  1  to autonomously take an elevator, as shown in  FIGS. 1-5 , comprises an elevator button pressing module  10 . The elevator button pressing module  10  is mounted on an elevator floor control panel  20  of the elevator. The elevator button pressing module  10  communicates with the mobile robot  1  wirelessly, and is adapted to press corresponding elevator buttons  21 ,  22  on the elevator floor control panel  20  according to an instruction issued by the mobile robot  1  to call an elevator car. 
     The elevator button pressing module  10 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , includes a housing  100 , a pair of virtual fingers  111 ,  112 , a driver  113 , and a controller  114 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1-5 , the housing  100  is adapted to be mounted on the elevator floor control panel  20 , and has a back side  120  facing the elevator floor control panel  20 , and a front side  110  facing away from the elevator floor control panel  20 . 
     The virtual fingers  111 ,  112 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , are provided on the back side  120  of the housing  100  and are configured to be movable relative to the housing  100 . The driver  113  is provided in the housing  100  and is used for driving the virtual fingers  111 ,  112  to move. The controller  114  is provided in the housing  100  and is used to control the driver  113 . 
     The controller  114 , shown in  FIG. 1 , is configured to communicate with the mobile robot  1  wirelessly and is adapted to control the driver  113  according to an instruction issued by the mobile robot  1 . The driver  113  is adapted to drive the virtual finger  111  or  112  to move to press a corresponding elevator button  21  or  22  on the elevator floor control panel  20  under the control of the controller  114 . 
     The elevator button pressing module  10  further comprises virtual buttons  101 ,  102 . The virtual buttons  101 ,  102  are provided on the front side  110  of the housing  100 , as shown in  FIGS. 1, 4, and 5 . The driver  113  is configured to, in response to the virtual button  101  or  102  being pressed, drive the virtual finger  111  or  112  to press the elevator button  21  or  22  corresponding to the pressed virtual button  101  or  102  on the elevator floor control panel  20  under the control of the controller  114 . 
     The elevator button pressing module  10 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , includes a display  103  provided on the front side  110  of the housing  100  and configured to display a working status of the elevator button pressing module  10  and/or the elevator. 
     The elevator button pressing module  10  further comprises a data interface  105 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The elevator button pressing module  10  is adapted to be connected to an external device, for example, to an external computer, a sensor, or the like, through the data interface  105 . 
     The elevator button pressing module  10 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , includes a power switch  104 . The power switch  104  is provided on the top of the housing  100  and is used to control a power supply to the elevator button pressing module  10 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the system further comprises a sensor  40 . The sensor  40  is provided near an elevator floor door  30 , connected to the controller  114  of the elevator button pressing module  10 , and configured for detecting whether or not the elevator floor door  30  is opened. The controller  114  of the elevator button pressing module  10  notifies the mobile robot  1  that it can enter the elevator car when the sensor  40  detects that the elevator floor door  30  has been opened. In various embodiments, the sensor  40  may be a non-contact distance sensor or an image sensor. 
     The elevator buttons  21 ,  22 , shown in  FIG. 3 , include an elevator up button  21  and an elevator down button  22  provided on the elevator floor control panel  20 . The elevator button pressing module  10  is adapted to press the elevator up button  21  and the elevator down button  22  on the elevator floor control panel  20 . 
     The virtual fingers  111 ,  112 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , include a first virtual finger  111  and a second virtual finger  112 . The first virtual finger  111  is used to press the elevator up button  21 , and the second virtual finger  112  is used to press the elevator down button  22 . The driver  113  drives the first virtual finger  111  to press the elevator up button  21  under the control of the controller  114  when the mobile robot  1  issues an instruction to press the elevator up button  21 . The driver  113  drives the second virtual finger  112  to press the elevator down button  22  under the control of the controller  114  when the mobile robot  1  issues an instruction to press the elevator down button  22 . 
     The virtual buttons  101 ,  102 , as shown in  FIGS. 1, 4, and 5 , include a first virtual button  101  and a second virtual button  102 . The first virtual button  101  corresponds to the elevator up button  21 , and the second virtual button  102  corresponds to the elevator down button  22 . The driver  113  drives the first virtual finger  111  to press the elevator up button  21  under the control of the controller  114  when the first virtual button  101  is pressed. The driver  113  drives the second virtual finger  112  to press the elevator down button  22  under the control of the controller  114  when the second virtual button  102  is pressed. 
     In the foregoing various exemplary embodiments according to the present disclosure, the mobile robot  1  can autonomously take the elevator using the system. Therefore, the present disclosure expands the application range of the robots and does not require any modification to the elevator itself, which will not have any impact on the safety of the elevator. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above-described embodiments are illustrative and can be modified, and that the structures described in the various embodiments can be freely combined without conflict in structure or principle. Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, the embodiments disclosed in the drawings are intended to be illustrative explanation of the embodiments of the disclosure, and should not be construed as limiting the disclosure. Although several embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present general inventive concept, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the claims and their equivalents.