COVERAGE ROBOTS AND ASSOCIATED CLEANING BINS
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An autonomous coverage robot includes a chassis, a drive system configured to maneuver the robot, and a cleaning assembly. The cleaning assembly includes a cleaning assembly housing and at least one driven sweeper brush. The robot includes a controller and a removable sweeper bin configured to receive debris agitated by the driven sweeper brush. The sweeper bin includes an emitter disposed on an interior surface of the bin and a receiver disposed remotely from the emitter on the interior surface of the bin and configured to receive an emitter signal. The emitter and the receiver are disposed such that a threshold level of accumulation of debris in the sweeper bin blocks the receiver from receiving emitter emissions. The robot includes a bin controller disposed in the sweeper bin and monitoring a detector signal and initiating a bin full routine upon determining a bin debris accumulation level requiring service.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1-15. -15. (canceled)
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16. A coverage robot system comprising:
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a cleaning bin housing configured to be received by a cleaning robot; a bin capacity sensor system carried by the cleaning bin housing and comprising; at least one signal emitter disposed on an interior surface of the cleaning bin housing; and at least one signal detector disposed on the interior surface of the cleaning bin housing and configured to receive a signal emitted by the emitter, the emitter and the detector being disposed proximate to one another on the same interior surface of the bin; and a controller monitoring a signal from the detector and determining a cleaning service requirement; and a remote indicator in wireless communication with the controller and configured to display a user-detectable indication of the cleaning service requirement determined by the controller. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An autonomous coverage robot comprising:
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a chassis; a drive system mounted on the chassis and configured to maneuver the robot; a cleaning assembly carried by the chassis and comprising; a cleaning assembly housing; and at least one driven sweeper coupled to the cleaning assembly housing; a controller carried by the chassis; a removable bin attached to the chassis and configured to receive debris agitated by the driven sweeper, the removable bin comprising; an emitter disposed on an interior surface of the bin; and a detector disposed on the interior surface of the bin, and configured to receive a signal emitted by the emitter, the emitter and the detector disposed such that a threshold level of accumulation of debris in the bin attenuates emissions received by the detector from the emitter; a bin controller monitoring a signal from the detector and determining a bin-full status; and a remote indicator in wireless communication with the controller and configured to provide a user-detectable indication of the bin-full status determined by the controller. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. An autonomous coverage robot comprising:
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a chassis; a drive system mounted on the chassis and configured to maneuver the robot; at least one driven sweeper carried by the chassis; a bin attached to the chassis and configured to receive debris agitated by the driven sweeper, the bin comprising; an emitter disposed on an interior surface of the bin; and a detector disposed on the interior surface of the bin, and configured to receive a signal emitted by the emitter, the emitter and the detector being disposed proximate to one another on the same interior surface of the bin such that the detector is configured to receive a reflected emitter signal; a controller carried by the chassis, the controller configured to monitor a signal from the detector and initiate a bin full routine upon determining a bin debris accumulation level requiring service; and a human perceptible indicator configured to provide an indication that autonomous operation may be interrupted for bin servicing. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification