Patent ID: 7191035

Claim:
An article handling system, comprising: a robot for handling an article which exists in a predetermined life space; a plurality of image capturers installed in the life space for capturing images of the life space; a sensor for detecting a state of an article existing in the life space, the state of the article including at least a current location of the article; a console unit which includes a display section for displaying a console window presented to a user and an input section which serves as an interface for the user; and a display controller for generating the console window, wherein the console window includes a virtual space rendered in the form of an image seen from a virtual view point by transforming and synthesizing data of the images captured by the image capturers, an article icon corresponding to an article existing in the life space, and window mask data having coordinate values corresponding to the virtual space for specifying a position of the article icon in the virtual space, and the window mask data is generated based on a current location of the article seen from the virtual view point which is determined by transformation from a current location of the article detected by the sensor, the user uses the input section to switch the virtual view point and designate a task which is assigned to the robot in the virtual space, and the robot handles an article in the life space based on the designated task.