AUTONOMOUS FLOOR-CLEANING ROBOT
First Claim
1. A floor-cleaning robot comprising:
- a wheeled housing having a perimeter;
a motor drive operably connected to wheels of the housing to move the robot across a floor surface;
a bumper responsive to obstacles encountered by the robot;
a controller in electrical communication with both the bumper and the motor drive and configured to control the motor drive to maneuver the robot to avoid detected obstacles across the floor surface during a floor-cleaning operation;
a driven cleaning brush, rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to an underside of the housing, the driven cleaning brush being disposed substantially across a central region of the underside and positioned to brush the floor surface as the robot is moved across the floor surface; and
a driven side brush extending beyond the perimeter and positioned to brush floor surface debris from beyond the perimeter toward a projected path of the driven cleaning brush.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A floor-cleaning robot includes a wheeled housing having a perimeter, a motor drive operably connected to wheels of the housing to move the robot across a floor surface, and a bumper responsive to obstacles encountered by the robot. A controller is in electrical communication with both the bumper and the motor drive and is configured to control the motor drive to maneuver the robot to avoid detected obstacles across the floor surface during a floor-cleaning operation. A driven cleaning brush, rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to an underside of the housing, is disposed substantially across a central region of the underside and is positioned to brush the floor surface as the robot is moved across the floor surface. Additionally, a driven side brush extending beyond the perimeter is positioned to brush floor surface debris from beyond the perimeter toward a projected path of the driven cleaning brush.
-
Citations
46 Claims
-
1. A floor-cleaning robot comprising:
-
a wheeled housing having a perimeter; a motor drive operably connected to wheels of the housing to move the robot across a floor surface; a bumper responsive to obstacles encountered by the robot; a controller in electrical communication with both the bumper and the motor drive and configured to control the motor drive to maneuver the robot to avoid detected obstacles across the floor surface during a floor-cleaning operation; a driven cleaning brush, rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to an underside of the housing, the driven cleaning brush being disposed substantially across a central region of the underside and positioned to brush the floor surface as the robot is moved across the floor surface; and a driven side brush extending beyond the perimeter and positioned to brush floor surface debris from beyond the perimeter toward a projected path of the driven cleaning brush. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A self-propelled floor-cleaning robot comprising
a housing defining a substantially round housing perimeter; -
a driven cleaning brush disposed within the round housing perimeter and positioned to engage a floor surface; a driven side brush extending beyond the round housing perimeter and positioned to brush floor surface debris from beyond the round housing perimeter; a bumper responsive to obstacles encountered by the robot; and a controller in electrical communication with a motor drive and configured to control the motor drive to maneuver the robot about detected obstacles located on the floor surface, during a floor-cleaning operation. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
-
41. A floor-cleaning robot, comprising:
-
a housing including a chassis and having a periphery, a motor drive operable to generate movement of the robot across a surface during floor-cleaning, a vacuum having a vacuum inlet disposed at least in part within the chassis and operable to ingest particulates and thereby provide floor-cleaning, a cleaning brush operable to collect particulates from the surface during floor-cleaning; a side brush, configured to direct particulates from outside of the periphery of the housing structure, toward the vacuum inlet during floor-cleaning, a removable dust cartridge which is removably connected to the housing and which is in communication with at least one of the vacuum or the cleaning brush, and which is operable to store particulates ingested by the vacuum or collected by the cleaning brush, a cliff detector operable to generate a cliff signal upon detection of a cliff during movement over the surface during floor cleaning, and a controller, in communication with the motor drive and responsive to a cliff signals generated by the cliff detector, wherein the controller is responsive to the cliff signal to control movement of the robot upon detection of a cliff to enable the robot to move away from the cliff and to continue movement. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
-
Specification