LAWN MOWER ROBOT AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20130192185A1
• Filed: 08/02/2012
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Hwang, Geunbae, Woo, Jongjin, Nam, Dongkyun
• Granted Patent: US 9,204,594 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 56/10.2A
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 34/008 for automated or remotely controlled operation
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0234 using optical markers or beacons optical beacons per se G01S1/70
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 60/12 using renewable energies, e.g. solar water pumping
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot

Abstract

The present embodiment relates to a lawn mower robot. The lawn mower robot includes a body including a mowing device; a sensor disposed in the body and sensing light signal produced from a signal producing unit in the outside; a moving device disposed in the body; and a controller controlling the moving device based on information sensed from the sensor, wherein the controller controls the moving device so that the lawn mower robot is moved along the light signal.

Claims

1. A lawn mower robot system, comprising:

a boundary display apparatus having a signal producing unit for producing signal; and

a robot including a mowing device that mows lawns, a sensor that senses the signal produced from the signal producing unit, a moving device to move the robot, and a controller to control the moving device based on the result sensed from the sensor,

wherein the controller controls the moving device so that the robot is moved toward the boundary display apparatus when the sensor senses the signal produced from the signal producing unit.

2. The lawn mower robot system according to claim 1, wherein the signal produced from the signal producing unit is light signal.

3. The lawn mower robot system according to claim 2, wherein the light signal is an infrared ray, and the sensor includes an infrared ray sensor.

4. The lawn mower robot system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor includes an ultrasonic sensor for sensing presence or absence of the boundary display apparatus.

5. The lawn mower robot system according to claim 4, wherein when the ultrasonic sensor senses the boundary display apparatus, the controller controls the moving device so that the robot is switched.

6. The lawn mower robot system according to claim 1, wherein the boundary display apparatus includes a photoelectric cell receiving light and producing current by the received light, and the signal producing unit produces signal using the current produced from the photoelectric cell.

7. The lawn mower robot system according to claim 1, wherein a lawn presence region is defined by a plurality of boundary display apparatuses, and the robot mows the lawn while moving in the lawn presence region.

8. The lawn mower robot system according to claim 1, wherein the boundary display apparatus further includes a lamp for emitting the light.

9. A lawn mower robot, comprising:

a body including a mowing device;

a sensor disposed in the body and sensing light signal produced from a signal producing unit in an outside of the body;

a moving device disposed in the body; and

a controller to control the moving device based on information sensed from the sensor,

wherein the controller controls the moving device so that the lawn mower robot is moved along the light signal.

10. The lawn mower robot according to claim 9, wherein the sensor includes an infrared ray sensor for sensing, the light signal.

11. The lawn mower robot according to claim 9, wherein the signal producing unit is disposed on a boundary display apparatus placed at a specific position, and the sensor includes an ultrasonic sensor for sensing the boundary display apparatus.

12. The lawn mower robot according to claim 11, wherein when the boundary display apparatus are sensed by the ultrasonic sensor on moving the body, the controller controls the moving device so that the direction of the body is switched.

13. The lawn mower robot according to claim 12, wherein the controller controls the moving device so that the body is rotated at a predetermined angle.

14. The lawn mower robot according to claim 12, wherein, the controller starts a direction switching when the sensor senses a first light signal, and the controller ends the direction switching when the sensor senses a second light signal.

15. A method of controlling a lawn mower robot, comprising:

moving a robot; and

moving the robot along light signal when a sensor senses the light signal during moving the robot.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising storing sensing positions of the light signal into a memory when the sensor initially senses the light signal.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising switching the robot when the robot to be moved along the light signal senses objects.

18. The method of controlling the lawn mower robot according to claim 17, further comprising moving the robot along different light signal after the robot is switched.

19. The method of controlling the lawn mower robot according to claim 15, when the robot reaches the sensing positions of the light signal, the robot stores previous moving paths into the memory, moves in the region formed by the stored path, and mows the lawn.