Method, medium, and apparatus for performing path planning of mobile robot

1. An apparatus for performing path planning of a mobile robot, comprising:

a coarse map generation unit comprising at least one processor to generate a coarse map composed of a plurality of cells;

a fine map generation unit to generate a fine map composed of a plurality of sub-cells into which at least one of the plurality of cells is divided; and

a path generation unit to control the fine map generation unit to generate the fine map with respect to a specified position in the coarse map generated through the coarse map generation unit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the specified position corresponds to at least one cell provided on the coarse map, in which an obstacle exists.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fine map generates a path through which the mobile robot can move, and the generated path has a final destination and an intermediate destination.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of cells of the coarse map and the plurality of sub-cells of the fine map include obstacle existence/nonexistence information and path information.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the path information includes information indicating whether cleaning of a specified cell has been completed and information indicating whether cleaning of the current line including the specified cell and lower lines of the current line has been completed.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the coarse map moves the mobile robot to a cell of a line through which the mobile robot has not yet passed until both ends of the line including the plurality of cells are blocked by an obstacle, and if the both ends of the line are blocked by the obstacle, the coarse map repeats to move the mobile robot to a next line until the obstacle forms a closed curve.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the path generation unit obtains a trace of a moving path on the fine map, whereby the mobile robot can pass through a narrow passage, and obtains cross cells in which the trace of the moving path and a cell having an obstacle existing therein cross each other.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the trace of the moving path is generated by removing a noise from the fine map, generating a configuration space, and then performing an erosion operation in the configuration space.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the path generation unit determines an intermediate destination and a final destination on the trace of the moving path.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the path generation unit further comprises an exception processing unit to determine mobile robot cannot reach final destination while the mobile robot is moving on moving path to the final destination through the intermediate destination even though obstacle is not detected in area preventing mobile robot from moving on moving path to the final destination.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the intermediate destination is the farthest cross point from the mobile robot among cross points between the trace of the moving path and the cross cell.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the final destination is determined by using a cost in which the mobile robot moves along the moving path from the intermediate destination.

13. A method of performing path planning of a mobile robot, comprising:

generating a coarse map composed of a plurality of cells using at least one processor;

generating a fine map composed of a plurality of sub-cells into which at least one of the plurality of cells, which neighbors the cell where an obstacle exists, is divided;

generating a moving path whereby the mobile robot can pass a narrow passage by using the fine map; and

updating the coarse map by reflecting the moving path.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of cells of the coarse map and the plurality of sub-cells of the fine map include obstacle existence/nonexistence information and path information.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the path information includes information indicating whether cleaning of a specified cell has been completed and information indicating whether cleaning of the current line including the specified cell and lower lines of the current line has been completed.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the generating the coarse map comprises:

moving the mobile robot to a cell of a line through which the mobile robot has not yet passed until both ends of the line including the plurality of cells are blocked by an obstacle;

moving the mobile robot to a next line if the both ends of the line are blocked by the obstacle; and

repeating the first and second steps until the obstacle forms a closed curve.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the generating the moving path comprises:

obtaining a trace of a moving path on the fine map; and

obtaining cross cells in which the trace of the moving path and a cell having an obstacle existing therein cross each other.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the trace of the moving path is generated by removing a noise from the fine map, generating a configuration space, and then performing an erosion operation in the configuration space.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

determining an intermediate destination and a final destination on the trace of the moving path; and

moving robot to the final destination through the intermediate destination.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising determining mobile robot cannot reach final destination while the mobile robot is moving on moving path to the final destination through the intermediate destination even though obstacle is not detected in area preventing mobile robot from moving on moving path to the final destination.

21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the intermediate destination is the farthest cross point from the mobile robot among cross points between the trace of the moving path and the cross cell.

22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the final destination is determined by using a cost in which the mobile robot moves along the moving path from the intermediate destination.

23. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that control at least one processing element to implement the method as recited in claim 13 .