CLEANING SYSTEM FOR AUTONOMOUS ROBOT

• US 20160166127A1
• Filed: 12/12/2014
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Inventors: Lewis, Oliver
• Granted Patent: US 10,568,483 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4041 Roll shaped surface treating tools
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/00 Robotic cleaning machines, i.e. with automatic control of the travelling movement or the cleaning operation
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/06 Control of the cleaning action for autonomous devices; Automatic detection of the surface condition before, during or after cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/02 Nozzles suction nozzles for fluid transport B65G51/00
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0472 Discs
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0477 Rolls
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0488 Combinations or arrangements of several tools, e.g. edge cleaning tools

Abstract

An autonomous cleaning robot comprises a chassis, at least one motorized drive wheel mounted to the chassis and arranged to propel the robot across a surface, and a pair of cleaning rollers mounted to the chassis and having outer surfaces exposed on an underside of the chassis and to each other. The cleaning rollers are drivable to counter-rotate while the robot is propelled, thereby cooperating to direct raised debris upward into the robot between the rollers. A side brush is further mounted to the chassis to rotate beneath the chassis adjacent a lateral side of the chassis about an upwardly extending side brush axis, and the outer surface of a first of the cleaning rollers of the pair extends laterally beyond the outer surface of a second of the cleaning rollers of the pair and laterally beyond the side brush axis, such that the first cleaning roller defines a cleaning width spanning the side brush axis.

Claims

1. An autonomous cleaning robot, comprising:

a chassis;

at least one motorized drive wheel mounted to the chassis and arranged to propel the robot across a surface;

a pair of cleaning rollers mounted to the chassis and having outer surfaces exposed on an underside of the chassis and to each other, the cleaning rollers drivable to counter-rotate while the robot is propelled, thereby cooperating to direct raised debris upward into the robot between the rollers; and

a side brush mounted to the chassis to rotate beneath the chassis adjacent a lateral side of the chassis about an upwardly extending side brush axis;

wherein the outer surface of a first of the cleaning rollers of the pair extends laterally beyond the outer surface of a second of the cleaning rollers of the pair and laterally beyond the side brush axis, such that the first cleaning roller defines a cleaning width spanning the side brush axis.

2. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the outer surface of the first of the cleaning rollers of the pair extends laterally beyond the outer surface of the second of the cleaning rollers by at least about one inch

3. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein a ratio of a length of the first of the cleaning rollers to a length of the second of the cleaning rollers is between about 10:

9 and 2;

1.

4. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, further comprising a first, second, and third sensors mounted to the chassis and responsive to radiation reflected upward from a floor surface beneath the sensor, the first sensor disposed near a front corner of the robot, the second sensor disposed near a front portion of the robot near the side brush, and the third sensor disposed on a near portion of the robot near the side brush.

5. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the side brush comprises a plurality of downwardly extending bristles arranged in a circular configuration that covers between 60% and 90% of the total perimeter of the circle.

6. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the side brush comprises multiple discrete bristle tufts arranged in a circular configuration and defining bristle-free regions therebetween, the bristle-free regions being between 10% and 30% of the total perimeter of the circle.

7. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 6, further comprising a cliff sensor mounted to the chassis and responsive to radiation reflected upward from a floor surface beneath the cliff sensor, the side brush bristle tufts configured to sweep through an area directly beneath the cliff sensor.

8. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the upwardly extending side brush axis forms an angle less than 90 degrees with the underside of the chassis.

9. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein at least one of the cleaning rollers comprises a roller brush with a roller core and bristles extending from the core to define the outer surface of the roller brush.

10. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 9, wherein each of the cleaning rollers comprises a roller brush.

11. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 10, wherein bristles of the first cleaning roller extend into space between bristles of the second cleaning roller brush during counter-rotation of the cleaning rollers.

12. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 9, wherein only one of the cleaning rollers comprises a roller brush, and the other of the cleaning rollers is free of bristles.

13. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the outer surface of at least one of the rollers comprises an elastomeric polymer.

14. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 13, wherein the elastomeric polymer forms exposed surfaces of raised features of the outer surface.

15. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 13, wherein the elastomeric polymer is in the form of a sheath over a resilient layer.

16. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the side brush is arranged such that during rotation of the side brush bristles of the side brush sweep under the outer surfaces of both cleaning rollers of the pair.

17. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, further comprising a motor operably connected to the side brush and at least one of the cleaning rollers, such that operation of the motor turns the side brush and at least one of the cleaning rollers.

18. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the first of the cleaning rollers of the pair comprises two roller segments disposed to rotate about a common axis.

19. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the chassis has a forward outer edge segment that is linear and generally parallel with the pair of cleaning rollers over at least a central 90% of the width of the chassis.

20. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein the side brush is arranged such that during rotation of the side brush bristles of the side brush sweep beyond the forward outer edge segment.

21. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein the chassis has an outer side edge segment, on a side closest to the side brush, which is linear and generally perpendicular to the forward outer edge segment.

22. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein a direction of rotation of the side brush is defined such that a first time required for a portion of the side brush to sweep first under the lateral side and then under the forward outer edge segment is greater than a second time required for the portion to sweep first under the forward outer edge segment and then under the lateral side.

23. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the first of the cleaning rollers of the pair extends across at least 75% of an overall width of the cleaning robot.

24. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the cleaning rollers together cover a floor area at least 10% percent of a total floor area covered by the robot.

25. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the cleaning rollers are configured to rotate about respective, parallel roller rotation axes.

26. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 25, wherein the upwardly extending side brush axis is disposed forward of at least one of the roller rotation axes, with respect to a forward drive direction of the cleaning robot.

27. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein the second of the cleaning rollers of the pair is disposed forward of the first of the cleaning rollers of the pair, with respect to a forward drive direction of the cleaning robot.

28. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 27, wherein at least the second of the cleaning rollers of the pair is arranged to rotate around an axis disposed forward of the at least one motorized drive wheel.

29. The autonomous cleaning robot of claim 27, wherein the axis about which the second of the cleaning rollers of the pair is arranged to rotate is disposed within a distance of a forward edge of the cleaning robot that is less than about twice a diameter of the second of the cleaning rollers.