AUTONOMOUS FLOOR CLEANING WITH REMOVABLE PAD

• US 20160270619A1
• Filed: 03/30/2016
• Published: 09/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Inventors: Lu, Ping-Hong, Johnson, Joseph M., Foran, Daniel, Williams, Marcus, Graziani, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 9,565,984 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/24 Floor-sweeping machines, motor-driven
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/28 Floor-scrubbing machines, motor-driven A47L11/29 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4002 Installations of electric equipment
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4036 Parts or details of the surface treating tools
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4061 Steering means; Means for avoiding obstacles; Details related to the place where the driver is accommodated
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4066 Propulsion of the whole machine
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4083 Liquid supply reservoirs; Preparation of the agents, e.g. mixing devices
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4088 Supply pumps; Spraying devices; Supply conduits
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 13/16 Cloths; Pads; Sponges metal scraping sponges A47L13/07
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 13/24 Frames for mops; Mop heads handles B25G
• 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 2201/04 Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection
• 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 9/0673 with removable brushes, combs, lips or pads
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2805 Parameters or conditions being sensed
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2815 using optical detectors
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/10 characterised by the type of cleaning tool
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/14 Wipes; Absorbent members, e.g. swabs or sponges with integrated means for dispensing fluids B08B1/40
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/143 Wipes
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 7/04 by a combination of operations
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 : Mobile robot

Abstract

An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a body, a controller supported by the body, a drive supporting the body to maneuver the robot across a floor surface in response to commands from the controller, and a pad holder attached to an underside of the body to hold a removable cleaning pad during operation of the robot. The pad includes a mounting plate and a mounting surface. The mounting plate is attached to the mounting surface. The robot includes a pad sensor to sense a feature on the pad and to generate a signal based on the feature, which is defined in part by a cutout on the card backing. The mounting plate enables the pad sensor to detect the feature. The controller is response to the signal to perform operations including selecting a cleaning mode based on the signal, and controlling the robot according to a selected cleaning mode.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. An autonomous floor cleaning robot, including:

a robot body;

a drive supporting the robot body to maneuver the robot across a floor surface;

a pad holder attached to an underside of the robot body and configured to receive a removable cleaning pad, the pad holder including protrusions engageable with cutouts on edges of a mounting plate of the cleaning pad; and

a pad sensor to sense first and second pad type identifiers on the cleaning pad, the pad sensor being positioned to detect the first pad type identifier when the pad holder receives the cleaning pad in a first orientation and to detect the second pad type identifier when the pad holder receives the cleaning pad in a second orientation.

22. The robot of claim 21, wherein the protrusions of the pad holder include a first set of protrusions engageable with a first set of cutouts positioned on longitudinal edges of the mounting plate and aligned along a longitudinal center axis of the cleaning pad.

23. The robot of claim 22, wherein the protrusions further include a second set of protrusions engageable with a second set of cutouts positioned on lateral edges of the mounting plate and aligned along a lateral center axis of the cleaning pad.

24. The robot of claim 21, wherein the pad holder is configured to hold the cleaning pad in one of the first orientation and the second orientation, the cleaning pad in the first orientation being 180 degrees rotated relative to the cleaning pad in the second orientation.

25. The robot of claim 21, wherein the pad holder includes a pad release mechanism including a movable retention clip to hold the mounting plate of the cleaning pad, the movable retention clip being configured to release the mounting plate of the cleaning pad when the movable retention clip holds the mounting plate of the cleaning pad and upon activation of the pad release mechanism.

26. The robot of claim 21, wherein the pad holder is configured to engage longitudinal edges of the mounting plate of the cleaning pad to hold the cleaning pad, the longitudinal edges protruding beyond a pad body of the cleaning pad.

27. The robot of claim 21, wherein the pad holder is configured to oscillate relative to the robot body, and the protrusions of the pad holder are configured to engage the cutouts of the cleaning pad to inhibit lateral motion of the cleaning pad relative to the pad holder when the pad holder holds the cleaning pad and the pad holder oscillates during operation of the robot.

28. The robot of claim 27, wherein the pad holder is configured to oscillate relative to the robot body in an orbit of 12 millimeters to 15 millimeters.

29. The robot of claim 21, wherein the protrusions are extendable into the cutouts of the cleaning pad when the pad holder receives the cleaning pad.

30. The robot of claim 21, further including a controller that identifies a type of the cleaning pad based on the pad sensor detecting one of the first and second pad type identifiers, and that initiates a cleaning mode based on the identified type.

40. The robot of claim 21, wherein a location of the first pad type identifier is symmetric to a location of the second pad type identifier about longitudinal and horizontal axes of the cleaning pad.

41. The robot of claim 21, wherein the pad sensor is configured to sense an arrangement of visible ink representing the first and second pad identifiers on the cleaning pad, the arrangement of visible ink being indicative of a type of the cleaning pad selected from a plurality of cleaning pad types.

42. The robot of claim 21, wherein the pad holder is configured to align the pad sensor with the first pad identifier or the second pad identifier of the cleaning pad, and the robot further comprises a controller configured to

determine that the pad sensor is not properly aligned with the first pad identifier or the second pad identifier of the cleaning pad, and

initiate ceasing of a cleaning operation in response to determining that the pad sensor is not properly aligned with the first pad identifier and the second pad identifier.

43. The robot of claim 41, wherein the cutouts are first cutouts, and the pad sensor is configured to sense the first and second pad identifiers through second cutouts on the cleaning pad, the second cutouts defining the arrangement of visible ink.

44. The robot of claim 25, the pad holder further comprises a non-movable retention clip to hold the mounting plate of the cleaning pad.

45. The robot of claim 25, wherein the movable retention clip is configured to rotate away from the mounting plate when the pad release mechanism is activated.

46. The robot of claim 28, further comprising a controller to initiate oscillating of the pad holder based on a type of the cleaning pad indicated by the first and second pad identifiers.

47. The robot of claim 30, wherein the type of the cleaning pad is one of a plurality of cleaning pad types, and the controller is configured to initiate the cleaning mode upon detecting the first pad identifier or the second pad identifier.

31-39. -39. (canceled)