TECHNIQUES FOR BOUNDING CLEANING OPERATIONS OF A ROBOTIC SURFACE CLEANING DEVICE WITHIN A REGION OF INTEREST

• US 20190320866A1
• Filed: 04/23/2019
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC (JS Global Lifestyle Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: SharkNinja Operating LLC (JS Global Lifestyle Company Limited)
• Inventors: THORNE, Jason B., BROWN, Andre D., CLARE, David S., SARDAR, Nicholas, PINCHES, Christopher P., JAMES, Samuel Emrys, DOUGLAS, Michael James, CROGGON, Hugh J.
• Granted Patent: US 11,687,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/022 Recharging of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/04 Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 5/24 Hand-supported suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2852 Elements for displacement of the vacuum cleaner or the accessories therefor, e.g. wheels, casters or nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2894 Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0016 characterised by the operator's input device input arrangements for computing systems in general G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0033 by having the operator tracking the vehicle either by direct line of sight or via one or more cameras located remotely from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058

Abstract

In general, the present disclosure is directed to a hand-held surface cleaning device that includes circuitry to communicate with a robotic surface cleaning device to cause the same to target an area/region of interest for cleaning. Thus, a user may utilize the hand-held surface cleaning device to perform targeted cleaning and conveniently direct a robotic surface cleaning device to focus on a region of interest. Moreover, the hand-held surface cleaning device may include sensory such as a camera device for extracting three-dimensional information from a field of view. This information may be utilized to map locations of walls, stairs, obstacles, changes in surface types, and other features in a given location. Thus, a robotic surface cleaning device may utilize the mapping information from the hand-held surface cleaning device as an input in a real-time control loop, e.g., as an input to a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) routine.

Claims

1. A control system for controlling a robotic surface cleaning device, the control system comprising:

a robotic surface cleaning device having a nozzle to receive dirt and debris and configured to travel about a surrounding environment;

a hand-held device comprising an antenna arrangement to communicate with the robotic surface cleaning device and at least a first sensor to capture a plurality of location data points, each location data point corresponding to a physical location in the surrounding environment; and

a controller configured to;

translate the captured location data points into a plurality of localized coordinates, each localized coordinate of the plurality of localized coordinates corresponding to locations in a map that virtually represents the surrounding environment;

identify at least one region of interest in the map based on the translated localized coordinates; and

send a command to cause the robotic surface cleaning device to remain substantially within areas of the surrounding environment corresponding to the at least one identified region of interest during cleaning operations.

2. The control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is implemented within the hand-held device, and wherein the command is transmitted via the antenna arrangement of the hand-held device to the robotic surface cleaning device, and wherein the command is further configured to update a map in a memory of the robotic surface cleaning device based on the at least one identified region of interest.

3. The control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is implemented within the robotic surface cleaning device, and wherein the hand-held device sends the plurality of captured location data points to the robotic surface cleaning device within the surrounding environment via the antenna arrangement of the hand-held device.

4. The control system of claim 1, wherein the controller identifies the at least one region of interest in the map based on the translated localized coordinates collectively forming a shape that substantially corresponds with an irregular or regular geometric shape.

5. The control system of claim 1, wherein the hand-held device further includes a second sensor, the second sensor being an image sensor.

6. The control system of claim 5, wherein the controller identifies at least one obstacle within the at least one identified region of interest based on image data from the image sensor of the hand-held device or based on user input.

7. The control system of claim 5, wherein the controller identifies at least one surface type within the at least one identified region of interest based on image data from the image sensor of the hand-held device, and wherein the controller causes the robotic surface cleaning device to adjust a cleaning mode when performing cleaning operations within the at least one identified region of interest based on the at least one identified surface type.

8. The control system of claim 6, wherein the controller updates the map to include a representation of the at least one identified obstacle, and wherein the robotic surface cleaning device navigates around the obstacle during cleaning operations based on the updated map.

9. The control system of claim 1, wherein the hand-held device is a surface cleaning device having a nozzle to receive dust and debris and a dust cup for storing the received dust and debris.

10. A method of updating a map in a memory for use by a robotic surface cleaning device during autonomous or semi-autonomous cleaning operations, the map virtually representing an environment surrounding the robotic surface cleaning device, the method comprising:

receiving, by a controller, a plurality of location data points, each of the plurality of location data points having an associated origin of measurement representing a location in a surrounding environment from which a given location data point of the plurality of location data points was captured;

translating, by the controller, the plurality of location data points into a plurality of localized coordinates based on the origin of measurement;

identifying, by the controller, at least one region of interest in the map based on the localized coordinates of the plurality of localized coordinates; and

updating, by the controller, the map in the memory based on the at least one identified region of interest.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising transitioning, by the controller, the robotic surface cleaning device into a bounded cleaning mode wherein the robotic surface cleaning device navigates to areas of the surrounding environment corresponding to the at least one identified region based on the updated map and remains substantially therein over a predetermined amount of time while performing cleaning operations.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, by the controller, image data associated with the at least one identified region of interest.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising adjusting a cleaning operation of the robotic surface cleaning device while in the bounded cleaning mode based on the received image data and/or updating the map based on the received image data.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising identifying regions of the surrounding environment with a relatively high amount of dirt and debris based on the received image data.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein adjusting a cleaning operation further comprises identifying at least one floor type associated with the at least one identified region of interest based on the image data and deploying a cleaning element suited for the at least one identified floor type.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying at least one region of interest in the map based on the localized coordinates further comprises matching the plurality of localized coordinates to a regular or irregular geometric shape based on a probability distribution function (PDF).

17. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying at least one region of interest in the map based on the localized coordinates further comprises identifying a boundary that encompasses a majority of the plurality of localized coordinates.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein a shape of the at least one identified region of interest determines a navigation path for the robotic surface cleaning device while performing cleaning operations within the at least one identified region of interest.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing the at least one identified region of interest in a memory and associating the at least one identified region of interest with a schedule such that the at least one identified region of interest is cleaned autonomously at a regular interval.

20. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing the at least one identified region of interest as a high priority region in the memory.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein transitioning the robotic surface cleaning device into a bounded cleaning mode further comprises performing cleaning operations on the at least one identified region of interest stored as a high priority region in the memory before other identified regions of interest.

22. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing the at least one identified region of interest as an exclude region, the exclude region being ignored by the robotic surface cleaning device such that a physical area corresponding with the exclude region is ignored during cleaning operations.