Surface treatment robotic system

• US 10,429,835 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2015
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecovacs Robotics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Ecovacs Robotics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Tang, Jinju
• Primary Examiner(s): Cass, Jean Paul
• Application Number:
  US15/303,849
• Publication Number:
  US 20170090471A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0016 characterised by the operator's input device input arrangements for computing systems in general G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0033 by having the operator tracking the vehicle either by direct line of sight or via one or more cameras located remotely from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/027 comprising intertial navigation means, e.g. azimuth detector inertial navigation G01C21/16; inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments G01C21/165
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link

Abstract

A surface treatment robotic system configured to determine direction references by providing different direction sensors in different surface treatment robots, the surface treatment robotic system comprising a surface treatment robot and a remote control; the surface treatment robot comprises a control unit and a drive unit; the control unit receives remote control instructions of the remote control and controls the drive unit to execute corresponding actions; the surface treatment robot is provided with a direction sensor for determining a reference direction; the direction sensor is coupled to the control unit; and the direction sensor transmits the determined reference direction to the control unit, and the control unit determines a walking direction of the robot by referring to the reference direction and according to the remote control instructions inputted by the input terminal of the remote control.

Claims

1. A surface treatment robotic system, comprising a surface treatment robot and a remote controller, wherein the surface treatment robot comprises a control unit and a driving unit, the control unit receives remote control instructions from the remote controller and controls the driving unit to perform corresponding actions, the surface treatment robotic system being characterized in that,

the surface treatment robot is provided with a direction sensor for determining a reference direction regardless of a current moving direction of the surface treatment robot;

the direction sensor is coupled to the control unit, and the direction sensor transmits the determined reference direction to the control unit;

the control unit determines a moving direction of the robot by using the reference direction as a reference and according to the remote control instructions input by an input terminal of the remote controller; and

the input terminal of the remote controller is provided with direction buttons, and a moving direction indicated by the direction button is according to the reference direction,

wherein the surface treatment robot is a tilted surface treatment robot, and the direction sensor is a gravity sensor through which a vertical direction is determined as the reference direction, and

when the surface treatment robot is a horizontal surface treatment robot, the remote control instructions comprise an instruction for walking in the east, west, south or north direction with the south direction as a reference.

2. A surface treatment robotic system of claim 1, characterized in that, the input terminal for inputting the instructions of the remote controller comprises at least four direction buttons configured to input the respective remote control instructions, the remote control instructions being corresponding one-to-one to four moving directions, including the front, the back, the left, and the right moving directions set based on the reference direction, of the surface treatment robot.

3. A surface treatment robotic system of claim 1, characterized in that, the remote control instructions comprise an instruction for walking in up, down, left, or right direction with the vertical direction as a reference.

4. A surface treatment robotic system of claim 1, characterized in that, when the surface treatment robot is the horizontal surface treatment robot, the direction sensor is an electronic compass or magnetic compass through which the south direction is determined as the reference direction.