Patent ID: 7840308

Claim:
A control apparatus for a movable robot, comprising: an acquiring unit configured to acquire environment information, the acquiring unit including at least one of a camera and a microphone; a detector configured to detect a current position of the robot; a map storage configured to store map data containing information regarding arrangement of passages and fixtures in regions in which the robot may move; a parameter storage configured to store control parameters adjusted to different environments, wherein the control parameters comprising a sensitivity of the microphone, a sensitivity of the camera and an output level of a loudspeaker; and a control unit configured to determine a current position of the robot on the map data based on an output of the detector, retrieve control parameters corresponding to the current position of the robot from the parameter storage, update the current control parameters of the robot with the retrieved control parameters when the current control parameters are inappropriate for the current position, and use the current control parameters when the current control parameters are appropriate for the current position.