Guide dog robot for the visually impaired persons and control method thereof

A control method of a guide dog robot for visually impaired persons, the control method comprising:

• a step of moving a spring damper unit, connected to a harness unit gripped by a visually impaired person, in an axial direction by using an external force acting between the visually impaired person and the guide dog robot;
• a step of sensing a position and a speed at an equipped position by using an inertia measurement unit (IMU) included in each of the harness unit, the spring damper unit, and a body part with the spring damper unit mounted on an upper surface thereof;
• and
• a step of performing movement based on a movement intention of the visually impaired person and a moving motion of the guide dog robot by using the body part, based on the sensed position and speed,
• wherein the step of performing the movement based on the movement intention of the visually impaired person and the moving motion of the guide dog robot comprises:
• a step of calculating a first interaction force between the harness unit and the spring damper unit, based on a first mass-spring-damper model set with respect to each axis between the harness unit and the spring damper unit;
• and
• a step of calculating a second interaction force between the spring damper unit and the body part, based on a second mass-spring-damper model set with respect to each axis between the spring damper unit and the body part.

A guide dog robot for visually impaired persons, the guide dog robot comprising:

• a communication module configured to receive sensing data of an inertia measurement unit (IMU) included in each of a harness unit gripped by a visually impaired person, a spring damper unit connected to the harness unit, and a body part with the spring damper unit mounted on an upper surface thereof;
• a memory configured to store a program for performing a movement of the guide dog robot, based on the sensing data;
• and
• a processor configured to, as the spring damper unit moves in an axial direction with an external force acting between the visually impaired person and the guide dog robot by executing the program stored in the memory, obtain a position and a speed at an equipped position, based on the sensing data from each IMU, and control movement based on the movement intention of the visually impaired person and the moving motion of the guide dog robot, based on the obtained position and speed,
• wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a first interaction force between the harness unit and the spring damper unit, based on a first mass-spring-damper model set with respect to each axis between the harness unit and the spring damper unit, and calculate a second interaction force between the spring damper unit and the body part, based on a second mass-spring-damper model set with respect to each axis between the spring damper unit and the body part.