Restricting movement of a mobile robot

• US 10,639,793 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2017
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Inventors: Williams, Marcus, Lu, Ping-Hong, Johnson, Joseph M., Santini, Fabrizio
• Primary Examiner(s): Mott, Adam R
• Application Number:
  US15/796,905
• Publication Number:
  US 20180065253A1
• Time in Patent Office: 918 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 5/00 Manipulators mounted on wheels or on carriages B25J1/00 takes precedence; programme-controlled manipulators B25J9/00 ; vehicle aspects B60, B62, e.g. remote-controlled steering for motor vehicles B62D1/24; control of position of vehicles G05D1/00
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1666 Avoiding collision or forbidden zones
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1694 characterised by use of sensors other than normal servo-feedback from position, speed or acceleration sensors, perception control, multi-sensor controlled systems, sensor fusion
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1697 Vision controlled systems
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0234 using optical markers or beacons optical beacons per se G01S1/70
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot

Abstract

A robot includes a body that is movable relative to a surface one or more measurement devices within the body to output information based on an orientation of the body at an initial location on the surface, and a controller within the body to determine an orientation of the body based on the information and to restrict movement of the body to an area by preventing movement of the body beyond a barrier that is based on the orientation of the body and the initial location.

Claims

1. A robot comprising:

a drive to move the robot across a floor surface;

a user input device operable to initiate defining of a virtual barrier beyond which movement of the robot is restricted;

a controller configured to execute operations comprising

defining an entirety of the virtual barrier, while the robot is at an initial location, in response to operation of the user input device to initiate defining of the virtual barrier, the virtual barrier extending beyond an outer perimeter of the robot,

restricting movement of the robot beyond the virtual barrier, and

transmitting, to a remote computing device, a map representing at least a portion of the floor surface and indicative of a location of the virtual barrier to cause the remote computing device to display a representation of the map and a representation of the virtual barrier.

2. The robot of claim 1, further comprising a sensor configured to generate information indicative of a location of the robot,

wherein the operations further comprise generating the map, based on at least the generated information, while controlling the robot to move across the floor surface.

3. The robot of claim 2, wherein the operations comprise navigating the robot about the floor surface based on the map.

4. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

performing a first cleaning operation in which the robot moves about the floor surface while cleaning the floor surface and generating the map, and

performing a second cleaning operation in which the robot moves about the floor surface based on the map while cleaning the floor surface.

5. The robot of claim 1, wherein the map is indicative of a location of an open area and a location of one or more obstacles.

6. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise driving the robot across the floor surface in a coverage behavior to cover at least an interior portion of an area comprising the portion of the floor surface and in a wall following behavior to follow a perimeter of the area, the perimeter being defined at least in part by an initial orientation and the initial location of the robot.

7. The robot of claim 1, further comprising a cleaning system configured to clean the floor surface during movement of the robot across the floor surface,

wherein the operations further comprise controlling the robot to move along the floor surface while restricting movement of the robot beyond the virtual barrier and while the cleaning system cleans the floor surface.

8. The robot of claim 7, wherein the cleaning system includes a wet cleaning system configured to support a cleaning pad on a forward portion of the robot.

9. The robot of claim 7, wherein the cleaning system comprises one or more rotatable rollers to retrieve debris from the floor surface.

10. The robot of claim 1, wherein the virtual barrier is aligned with a visual indicator on the robot.

11. The robot of claim 1, further comprising a visual indicator configured to indicate an orientation of the virtual barrier.

12. The robot of claim 1, wherein the user input device comprises a button operable to initiate a cleaning operation and to initiate defining of the virtual barrier.

13. The robot of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the virtual barrier is parallel to a back of the robot.

14. The robot of claim 13, wherein the portion of the virtual barrier has a length of at least 0.9 meters.

15. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise initiating autonomous movement of the robot across the floor surface after defining the entirety of the virtual barrier.

16. The robot of claim 1, wherein defining the entirety of the virtual barrier is based on a location of the robot when the defining of the virtual barrier is initiated.

17. The robot of claim 1, wherein defining the entirety of the virtual barrier is based on an orientation of the robot when the defining the virtual barrier is initiated.

18. The robot of claim 1, wherein defining the entirety of the virtual barrier is based on a user-selected geometric shape.

19. The robot of claim 1, wherein defining the entirety of the virtual barrier comprises defining the virtual barrier such that the virtual barrier surrounds a location of the robot when defining of the virtual barrier is initiated.

20. The robot of claim 1, wherein transmitting the map to the remote computing device comprises transmitting the map to a mobile phone.

21. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise defining the virtual barrier in response to receiving a user instruction from the remote computing device.