METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MULTI-MODE COVERAGE FOR AN AUTONOMOUS ROBOT
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Abstract
A control system for a mobile robot (10) is provided to effectively cover a given area by operating in a plurality of modes, including an obstacle following mode (51) and a random bounce mode (49). In other embodiments, spot coverage, such as spiraling (45), or other modes are also used to increase effectiveness. In addition, a behavior based architecture is used to implement the control system, and various escape behaviors are used to ensure full coverage.
42 Citations
10 Claims
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1-2. -2. (canceled)
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3. A mobile robot comprising:
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a drive mechanism that both drives the robot forward in a drive direction over a support surface and turns the robot to change the drive direction;
a forward obstacle sensor responsive to objects encountered by the robot while moving in the drive direction;
a side sensor positioned to detect proximity of objects on a dominant side of the robot, transverse to the direction of travel;
a surface area processing mechanism effective on the dominant side of the robot; and
a drive controller controlling the drive mechanism such that when the forward sensor detects an object in the direction of travel of the robot, the drive controller turns the robot to locate the detected object on the dominant side of the robot and drives the robot to keep the detected object on the dominant side of the robot, while the surface area processing mechanism processes a portion of the support surface adjacent the object on the dominant side. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification