Autonomous moving apparatus and non-transitory computer readable medium

An autonomous moving apparatus, comprising:

• moving means for moving the autonomous moving apparatus;
• detecting means for detecting distances from surrounding objects and shapes of the surrounding objects;
• notifying means for notifying a person recognized as a follow target by the detector;
• and
• control means for, switching between a following mode and a lead mode, in response to the following mode, controlling the moving means so that the autonomous moving apparatus moves so as to follow movement of the person recognized as a follow target by the detecting means and, when the person recognized as the follow target performs a specific action, controlling the notifying means to give a notification that the specific action of the person recognized as the follow target is recognized by performing a response action associated with the specific action,
• in response to the lead mode, controlling the moving means so that the autonomous moving apparatus moves so as ahead of the follow target while maintaining a preset distance,
• wherein the notifying means is a steered wheel,
• when the person recognized as the follow target performs the specific action, the control means further gives a notification that the specific action of the person recognized as the follow target is recognized to the person recognized as the follow target by turning the steered wheel to right and left without moving the autonomous moving apparatus by the moving means.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process, the process comprising:

• switching an operation of a moving unit between a following mode and a lead mode;
• in response to the following mode, controlling the moving unit so that an autonomous moving apparatus moves so as to follow movement of a person recognized as a follow target by a detector that detects distances from surrounding objects and shapes of the surrounding objects;
• controlling, when the person recognized as the follow target performs a specific action, a notifying unit that notifies the person recognized as a follow target by the detector so that a notification that the specific action of the person recognized as the follow target is recognized is given by performing a response action associated with the specific action;
• and
• in response to the lead mode, controlling the moving unit so that the autonomous moving apparatus moves so as ahead of the follow target while maintaining a preset distance,
• where the notifying unit is a steered wheel,
• when the person recognized as the follow target performs the specific action, giving a notification that the specific action of the person recognized as the follow target is recognized to the person recognized as the follow target by turning the steered wheel to right and left without moving the autonomous moving apparatus by the moving unit.