Patent ID: 8036775

Claim:
A system including a mobile apparatus, the system comprising: a signal generator mounted on the mobile apparatus; a sensor mounted on the mobile apparatus; a user interface; at least one storage device, the at least one storage device including: a path-setting unit configured to set a path of the mobile apparatus as a sequence of points according to an inputted path that is inputted through the user interface, a measuring unit configured to measure an environment in which the mobile apparatus is situated, by emitting a signal from the signal generator to at least a predetermined measurement range of the sensor, and by using the sensor to generate measurements of the environment, an extracting unit configured to extract an object existence region that represents a position of an object in the environment, according to measurements generated by the measuring unit, a judging unit configured to judge as invalid a point on the inputted path when the point is at least one of (1) not within the predetermined measurement range of the sensor and (2) within the object existence region, a target position determining unit to: (1) determine a first target position on the inputted path to which the mobile apparatus is to move, by selecting the point on the inputted path that is both closest to the terminal position of the inputted path and not judged as invalid by the judging unit, and (2) update the first target position to a second target position on the inputted path, as a result of movement of the mobile apparatus, regardless of whether or not the mobile apparatus has reached the first target position, when the second target position is determined to be both closest to the terminal position of the path and not judged as invalid by the judging unit, and a movement control unit configured to determine a movement path of the mobile apparatus so that the mobile apparatus moves along the movement path from a current position to the first target position, and when the first target position is updated to the second target position, to update the movement path so that the mobile apparatus moves to the second target position; and a processor configured to, while the mobile apparatus is moving and until the mobile apparatus reaches the terminal position of the path, repeatedly execute processing to: measure the environment with the measuring unit, extract an object existence region with the extracting unit, judge as invalid a point on the inputted path with the judging unit, determine the target position with the target position determining unit, and determine the movement of the mobile apparatus with the movement control unit.