SYSTEM AS WELL AS A METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A SELF MOVING ROBOT

• US 20100174408A1
• Filed: 06/02/2008
• Published: 07/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.), Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Vroomen, Hubert Gerard Jean Joseph Amaury
• Granted Patent: US 8,483,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/254
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0003 Home robots, i.e. small robots for domestic use
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/028 using a RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2201/0203 Cleaning or polishing vehicle

Abstract

A system provided with a base station (2) comprising a signal emitting module, a self movable robot comprising at least an energy storage, a sensor for sensing this signal emitted by signal emitting module of the base station and a processor for controlling the movement of the robot by means of the sensed signal to return the robot to the base station. The robot comprises means for controlling the movement of the robot to move the robot randomly over a surface, whereby the absolute position of the robot is not memorized, means for marking the interrupt location (5) where the movement of the robot is interrupted to return to the base station and means for returning the robot from the base station to the interrupt location (5) by means of said marking.

Claims

1. A system provided with

a base station comprising a signal emitting module,

a self movable robot comprising at least an energy storage, a sensor for sensing the signal emitted by signal emitting module of the base station and a processor for controlling the movement of the robot based on the sensed signal to return the robot to the base station,

characterized in that

the robot comprises:

means for controlling the movement of the robot to move the robot randomly over a surface, whereby the absolute position of the robot is not memorized,

means for marking an interrupt location where the movement of the robot is interrupted to return to the base station, and

means for returning the robot from the base station to the interrupt location, which means use said marking.

2. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for marking the interrupt location comprise at least one beacon which is placed by the robot on at least the interrupt location and remains on the interrupt location at least until the robot is returned from the base station to the interrupt location.

3. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the beacon comprises a signal emitting module, which signal can be sensed by the sensor of the robot.

4. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the robot comprises several beacons to be placed on a path between the interrupt location and the base station.

5. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for marking the interrupt location comprise a memory for memorizing the movements of the robot from the interrupt location to the base station, and that the means for returning the robot from the base station to the interrupt location use said memory.

6. A method for controlling a self moving robot, the method comprising:

moving the robot randomly over a surface, whereby the absolute position of the robot is not memorized,

interrupt the movement of the robot,

marking the interrupt location where the movement of the robot is interrupted to return to the base station,

sensing a signal emitted by an emitting module of the base station,

moving the robot by means of the signal to the base station,

returning the robot from the base station to the marked interrupt location by means of the marking,

resume the randomly movement of the robot over the surface.