Obstruction-determining apparatus for preventing mobile robot from becoming obstructed and boundary-estimation method and medium using the obstruction-determining apparatus
First Claim
1. An obstruction-determining apparatus which is mounted on a mobile robot and determines whether the mobile robot is obstructed, the obstruction-determining apparatus comprising:
- a contact module which collides with an obstacle above the mobile robot;
a contact-operating module which rotates or moves vertically as a result of the collision between the contact module and the obstacle; and
a sensing module which detects the rotation or the vertical movement of the contact-operating module and determines whether the mobile robot is obstructed in a niche using the rotation or the vertical movement of the contact-operating module,wherein the contact module is located at an upper front portion of the mobile robot on an outside surface of the mobile robot.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An obstruction-determining apparatus for preventing a mobile robot from being obstructed in a niche and a boundary-estimation method and medium using the obstruction-determining apparatus are disclosed. More particularly, an obstruction-determining apparatus which can determine whether a mobile robot is obstructed in a niche, and enable a mobile robot to easily escape from an obstacle if the mobile robot is determined to be obstructed in the niche, and a boundary-estimation method and medium for estimating the boundaries of an obstacle with a niche using the obstruction-determining apparatus. The obstruction-determining apparatus includes a contact module which collides with an obstacle above the mobile robot, a contact-operating module which rotates or moves linearly as a result of the collision between the contact module and the obstacle, and a sensing module which detects the rotation or the linear movement of the contact-operating module and determines whether the mobile robot is obstructed in a niche.
19 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An obstruction-determining apparatus which is mounted on a mobile robot and determines whether the mobile robot is obstructed, the obstruction-determining apparatus comprising:
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a contact module which collides with an obstacle above the mobile robot; a contact-operating module which rotates or moves vertically as a result of the collision between the contact module and the obstacle; and a sensing module which detects the rotation or the vertical movement of the contact-operating module and determines whether the mobile robot is obstructed in a niche using the rotation or the vertical movement of the contact-operating module, wherein the contact module is located at an upper front portion of the mobile robot on an outside surface of the mobile robot. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A mobile robot comprising:
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a main body; an obstruction-determining module which determines whether the main body is obstructed in a niche; and a driving control module which controls movement of the main body if the main body is determined to be obstructed in a niche, wherein the obstruction-determining module collides with an obstacle above the mobile robot, rotates or moves vertically as a result of the collision between the obstruction-determining module and the obstacle, and determines whether the mobile robot is obstructed in a niche using the rotation or the vertical movement of the contact-operation module, and wherein the obstruction-determining module is located at an upper front portion of the main body. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A boundary-estimation method using an obstruction-determining modules comprising:
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allowing a first obstruction-determining module of a plurality of obstruction-determining modules to determine that a mobile robot is obstructed in a niche, the obstruction-determining modules being mounted on top of the mobile robot and on an outside surface of the mobile robot; rotating the mobile robot until a second obstruction-determining module of the obstruction-determining modules also determines that the mobile robot is obstructed in the niche; and estimating a boundary of the obstacle based on a plurality of obstructed positions of the mobile robot respectively detected by the obstruction-determining modules. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. An obstruction-determining apparatus which is mounted on a mobile robot and determines whether the mobile robot is obstructed, the obstruction-determining apparatus comprising:
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a contact-operating module to rotate or to move vertically as a result of a collision above the mobile robot between the obstruction-determining apparatus and the obstacle; and a sensing module to detect the rotation or the vertical movement of the obstruction-determining apparatus and to determine whether the mobile robot is obstructed in a niche using the rotation or the vertical movement of the contact-operating module, wherein the contact-operating module is located at an upper front portion of the mobile robot on an outside surface of the mobile robot. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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Specification