# US 11,511,634 B2 · Charging system for robot and control method thereof > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,511,634 B2 - Document ID: US11511634B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/805,228 - Filed: 2020-02-28 - Published: 2021-02-18 - Granted: 2022-11-29 - Earliest claimed: 2019-08-14 - Assignees: LG Electronics Inc. - Applicants: LG Electronics Inc. - Inventors: Boyeon Kim; Bina Kim; Jinsu Kim; Mina Suh; Jungkyu Son; Hyesun Lee; Jinwon Kang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11511634B2 ## CPC - B60L 53/12: Inductive energy transfer - B25J 9/163: {learning, adaptive, model based, rule based expert control} - B60L 53/35: Means for automatic or assisted adjustment of the relative position of charging devices and vehicles - B60L 53/36: by positioning the vehicle - B60L 53/38: specially adapted for charging by inductive energy transfer - B60L 53/66: Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles - B60L 53/68: Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control - G06N 3/09: Supervised learning - G06N 20/00: Machine learning - H02J 7/02: for charging batteries from AC mains by converters - H02J 7/50: acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially - H02J 7/80: including monitoring or indicating arrangements - H02J 50/10: using inductive coupling - H02J 50/40: using two or more transmitting or receiving devices (H02J50/50 takes precedence) - H02J 50/80: involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices - B60L 2200/24: Personal mobility vehicles - B60L 2200/34: Wheel chairs - B60L 2260/32: Auto pilot mode - G05B 2219/31004: Move vehicle to battery charge or maintenance area - G06N 3/04: Architecture, e.g. interconnection topology - Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries - Y02T 10/7072: Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors - Y02T 90/12: Electric charging stations - Y02T 90/14: Plug-in electric vehicles - Y02T 90/16: Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles - B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES - B25J: MANIPULATORS; CHAMBERS PROVIDED WITH MANIPULATION DEVICES ({manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery A61B34/70; manipulators used in cleaning hollow articles B08B9/04}; manipulators associated with rolling mills B21B39/20; manipulators associated with forging machines B21J13/10; {manipulators associated with picking-up and placing mechanisms B23P19/007}; means for holding wheels or parts thereof B60B30/00; {vehicles with ground-engaging propulsion means, e.g. walking members B62D57/02, B62D57/032; devices for picking-up and depositing articles or materials between conveyors B65G47/90, B65G47/91; manipulators with gripping or holding means for transferring packages B65H67/065}; cranes B66C; {manipulators used in the protection or supervision of pipe-line installations F17D5/00; walking equipment adapted for nuclear steam-generators F22B37/006}; manipulators specially adapted for, or associated with, nuclear reactors G21C; {apparatus used for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor H10P72/50}) - G06N: COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G) - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract A robot charging system and a control method thereof are provided to determine a charged state and charge a robot through self-driving. The robot charging system includes: a server configured to store boarding information of a user; a robot configured to receive the boarding information from the server, move the user to a destination included in the boarding information by self-driving using charged power, determine a discharge of the power, and move to a charging station for charging; and the charging station provided with a power supply coil to wirelessly supply the power source to the robot, and provided with a moving rail on a top of the power supply coil to sequentially charge a plurality of robots. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A robot charging system, comprising: a server configured to store boarding information of a user; at least one robot, the robot being configured to: receive the boarding information from the server, move the user to a destination included in the boarding information using charged power, determine a discharge amount of the charged power, and move to a charging station for charging based on charging availability information received from the server; and at least one charging station configured to transmit the charging availability information including a charging state of each robot to the server, the charging station including: a charging zone including a power supply coil to wirelessly supply the charged power to the robot; and a moving rail configured to move the robot past the power supply coil to charge the robot. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The robot charging system according to claim 1, wherein the robot includes: a communication interface configured to communicate with the server to transmit and receive the boarding information of the user or location information of the robot; at least one sensor configured to recognize whether the user has arrived at the destination by using the boarding information or the location information received from the communication interface; and a processor configured to: determine a charging amount of the charged power when the at least one sensor determines that the user has arrived at the destination, and control a movement of the robot with respect to the charging station. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The robot charging system according to claim 2, wherein the at least one charging station includes a plurality of charging stations, and wherein the processor is further configured to control the movement of the robot to a closest charging station among the plurality of charging stations when the controller determines that the charged power is not sufficient for the robot to move a reserved user to a reserved user destination. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The robot charging system according to claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to control the movement of the robot to a repository to wait for a reserved user after the charging of the robot is completed. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The robot charging system according to claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to control the robot to move to a mounting station when an auxiliary device is required for a movement of the reserved user. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The robot charging system according to claim 1, wherein the moving rail is disposed above the power supply coil. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The robot charging system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one robot includes a plurality of robots. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The robot charging system according to claim 7, wherein the power supply coil is configured to wirelessly supply power to two or more robots of the plurality of robots simultaneously, and wherein the moving rail is disposed above the power supply coil to enable the robots to be charged while sequentially moving the two or more robots past the power supply coil according to a movement of the moving rail. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The robot charging system according to claim 8, wherein the charging station further includes a sterilizer installed on upper, opposite sides of the moving rail to irradiate ultraviolet rays towards the two or more robots to sterilize the two or more robots according to the movement of the moving rail. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The robot charging system according to claim 8, wherein each robot of the two or more robots is configured to receive location information of a repository from the server after the charging is completed and to move to the repository from the charging station. ### Claim 11 A method of controlling a charging system for a robot, the method comprising: receiving, by a communication interface of the robot, boarding information from a server; determining, by at least one sensor of the robot, whether the robot arrives at a destination of a user included in the boarding information; determining, by a processor of the robot, a charging amount of a charged power when the at least one sensor determines that the robot has arrived at the destination of the user; receiving, by a processor of the robot, charging availability information of charging stations from the server; determining, by a processor of the robot, a charging station based on the charging availability information by taking a location of the robot; controlling, by the processor of the robot, the robot to move to the charging station; charging the robot at the charging station; transmitting, by the charging station, the charging availability information including a charging state of each robot to the server; and moving the robot to a repository for a reserved user or moving the robot to a mounting station to mount an auxiliary device when the auxiliary device is necessary for a movement of the reserved user, after the charging of the robot is completed. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method according to claim 11, wherein determining whether the robot arrives at the destination of the user includes determining whether the robot is located at the destination of the user included in the boarding information. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method according to claim 11, wherein determining whether the robot arrives at the destination of the user includes detecting, by the at least one sensor, the user disembarking from the robot. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The method according to claim 11, wherein determining whether the robot arrives at the destination of the user includes receiving an acceptance from the user indicating that the robot has arrived at the destination. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The method according to claim 11, wherein charging the robot includes: moving a plurality of robots including the robot past a power supply coil by moving a moving rail provided in the charging station; and wirelessly supplying power from the power supply coil to simultaneously charge the plurality of robots. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, further comprising, while moving the plurality of robots with the moving rail, sterilizing the robots by using a sterilizer installed on upper, opposite sides of the charging station. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method according to claim 16, wherein the sterilizer irradiates ultraviolet rays towards the plurality of robots. ### Claim 18 (depends on 11) The method according to claim 11, further comprising: prior to moving the robot to the repository or the mounting station, receiving boarding information of the reserved user from the server after the charging of the robot is completed; and determining, by the processor of the robot, a next destination of the robot according to the boarding information of the reserved user. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method according to claim 18, wherein moving the robot to the repository for a reserved user includes moving the robot by selecting the repository from a plurality of repositories by taking into consideration a reserved place and a reserved time according to the boarding information of the reserved user. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method according to claim 19, wherein moving the robot to the mounting station includes: receiving, from the server, a number of auxiliary devices stored in the mounting station to which the robot is to move; and moving the robot to a next mounting station when the number of auxiliary devices at the mounting station is insufficient. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The robot charging system according to claim 1, wherein a length of the charging zone of the charging station is determined by taking into consideration of the time required for charging and the speed of the moving rail. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The robot charging system according to claim 1, wherein the charging availability information includes at least one of a standby state, currently charging state, and charging completed state of each robot.