CLEANING STATION FOR MOBILE ROBOTS

• US 20180275668A1
• Filed: 03/22/2017
• Published: 09/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zebra Technologies Corporation
• Original Assignee: Fetch Robotics, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Diehr, Eric Peter, Ferguson, Michael, King, Derek
• Granted Patent: US 10,642,277 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/12 Brushes
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/165 Scrapers
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/20 Cleaning of moving articles, e.g. of moving webs or of objects on a conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/32 using rotary cleaning members
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 3/02 Cleaning by the force of jets or sprays
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 5/02 Cleaning by the force of jets, e.g. blowing-out cavities airguns or nozzles per se B05B1/005
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 7/028 Using ultrasounds
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0038 relating to sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/12 Inductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/37 using optical position determination, e.g. using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 3/04 for exteriors of land vehicles B60S3/002, B60S3/004 take precedence; specially adapted for railway vehicles B60S3/006
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0006 with means to keep optical surfaces clean, e.g. by preventing or removing dirt, stains, contamination, condensation G02B1/18 takes precedence; cleaning in general B08B
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

A station uses cleaning mechanisms to clean sensors of mobile robots. The mobile robots may use data from the sensors to navigate around an environment such as an inventory warehouse. A sensor of a mobile robot can become dirty over time as dust or other debris accumulates on the sensor. Since the mobile robots can navigate to a station for automatic sensor cleaning, a human does not need to manually clean the sensors. Multiple mobile robots may share one or more stations in the environment and coordinate a schedule to have their sensors cleaned. The stations may also charge a battery of a mobile robot simultaneously while cleaning the mobile robot'"'"'s sensors.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a first location of a cleaning station;

providing a first command to navigate a mobile robot to the first location, the mobile robot including one or more sensors;

receiving information indicating that the cleaning station cleaned at least one of the one or more sensors; and

providing a second command to navigate the mobile robot away from the first location after receiving the information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, prior to providing the first command, a quality level of sensor data generated by the one or more sensors, and wherein providing the first command is in response to determining that the quality level is below a threshold value.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more sensors includes a camera sensor, and wherein the quality level is based on a resolution of an image captured by the camera sensor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information indicating that the cleaning station cleaned the at least one of the one or more sensors is based on at least one of:

a predetermined period of time, sensor data captured by the one or more sensors of the mobile robot, sensor data captured by a cleaning sensor of the cleaning station, and an indicator identifying a completion of a cleaning cycle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile robot is in a vicinity of a plurality of cleaning stations including at least the cleaning station and another cleaning station, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining a first duration of time required for the mobile robot to navigate to the first location; and

determining a second duration of time required for the mobile robot to navigate to a second location of the another cleaning station, the first duration of time less than the second duration of time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a time at which the mobile robot will navigate to a predetermined distance from the first location; and

determining that another mobile robot will not be located within the predetermined distance from the first location at the time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the mobile robot will reach a checkpoint location at a time, the checkpoint location included in a route of the mobile robot and located within a predetermined distance from the first location, wherein the first command is provided subsequent to the time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the first command is in response to determining that the mobile robot does not currently have another command to perform.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the first command is in response to determining that the mobile robot has not navigated to a cleaning station to clean the one or more sensors for a given duration of time.

10. A method comprising:

determining that a mobile robot is located at a cleaning station including a cleaning mechanism and a battery charger, the mobile robot including a battery and a sensor;

cleaning the sensor using the cleaning mechanism;

charging the battery using the battery charger, simultaneously while cleaning the sensor using the cleaning mechanism;

determining that the sensor is cleaned; and

determining that the mobile robot is no longer located at the cleaning station.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing information to the mobile robot indicating that the sensor is cleaned.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein cleaning the sensor is in response to determining that the sensor needs to be cleaned based on sensor data generated by the sensor.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the cleaning mechanism includes at least one of:

a mechanical wiper, a liquid dispenser, a fan, an ultrasonic cleaner, and a compressed air tank.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the sensor is cleaned is based on at least one of:

a predetermined period of time, sensor data captured by a cleaning sensor of the cleaning station, a command provided to the cleaning mechanism, and an indicator identifying a completion of a cleaning cycle.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

determine a first location of a cleaning station;

provide a first command to navigate a mobile robot to the first location, the mobile robot including one or more sensors;

receive information indicating that the cleaning station cleaned at least one of the one or more sensors; and

provide a second command to navigate the mobile robot away from the first location after receiving the information.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the information indicating that the cleaning station cleaned the at least one of the one or more sensors is based on at least one of:

a predetermined period of time, sensor data captured by the one or more sensors of the mobile robot, sensor data captured by a cleaning sensor of the cleaning station, and an indicator identifying a completion of a cleaning cycle.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the mobile robot is in a vicinity of a plurality of cleaning stations including at least the cleaning station and another cleaning station, and having further instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

determine a first duration of time required for the mobile robot to navigate to the first location; and

determine a second duration of time required for the mobile robot to navigate to a second location of the another cleaning station, the first duration of time less than the second duration of time.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, having further instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

determine a time at which the mobile robot will navigate to a predetermined distance from the first location; and

determine that another mobile robot will not be located within the predetermined distance from the first location at the time.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein providing the first command is in response to determining that the mobile robot does not currently have another command to perform.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein providing the first command is in response to determining that the mobile robot has not navigated to a cleaning station to clean the one or more sensors for a given duration of time.