Autonomous search system, operation terminal, mobile search device, and search control method

An autonomous search system comprising:

• an operation terminal;
• and
• a mobile search device configured to search for a search object while moving based on information transmitted from the operation terminal, wherein
• the operation terminal includes:
• an input unit to which the search object and a predetermined action to be carried out relative to the search object can be separately input;
• a terminal-side communication unit that transmits, to the mobile search device, the search object input on the input unit as object data and transmits, to the mobile search device, the predetermined action input on the input unit as action data;
• and
• a terminal-side controller connected to the input unit and the terminal-side communication unit,
• the mobile search device includes:
• an object detector that detects the search object;
• an action unit capable of carrying out the predetermined action relative to the search object;
• a device-side communication unit capable of receiving the object data and the action data transmitted from the operation terminal;
• a storage unit storing an autonomous movement program that causes the mobile search device to autonomously move and a recognition program that compares the object data and object detection data detected by the object detector;
• and
• a device-side controller connected to the object detector, the action unit, the device-side communication unit, and the storage unit, and
• while the mobile search device is autonomously moving through the execution of the autonomous movement program, the device-side controller executes the recognition program to compare the object data received by the device-side communication unit with the object detection data detected by the object detector, and in a case where the object data and the object detection data are determined to match with each other as a result of the comparison, carries out the predetermined action relative to the search object using the action unit based on the action data received by the device-side communication unit, and
• wherein the object detector includes at least one of a camera capable of imaging the surroundings of the mobile search device, a scanner capable of measuring a space around the mobile search device, a microphone capable of detecting a sound around the mobile search device, and an odor measuring device capable of detecting an odor around the mobile search device.