System and method for guiding a robot cleaner along a path
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- a base station including a transmitter configured to transmit a guide signal into a guide signal reception field spatially bounded by at least one boundary portion; and
a mobile robot including;
a drive system configured to drive the robot across a floor;
two mutually adjacently disposed guide signal sensors, each of said sensors configured to generate a reference signal that reflects the sensor'"'"'s reception of the guide signal; and
a controller operably connected to the drive system and the guide signal sensors, the controller configured to;
control the drive system to track the robot along the at least one boundary portion of the guide signal reception field back to the base station based on said reference signals, wherein a first one of said guide signal sensors is positioned substantially inside of the boundary portion of the guide signal reception field and a second one of said guide signal sensors is positioned substantially outside of the boundary portion of the guide signal reception field.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a method of guiding a mobile robot, comprising: providing a transmitter (110), and having said transmitter transmit a guide signal (300) into a spatially bounded guide signal reception field (302); providing a mobile robot (200) including two mutually adjacently disposed guide signal sensors (210a, 210b), each configured to generate a reference signal that reflects its reception of the guide signal; and moving the robot along a boundary portion (306) of the guide signal reception field while, based on said reference signals, maintaining a tracking state in which a first of said guide signal sensors (210a) is positioned substantially on a first side of said boundary portion, and a second of said guide signal sensors (210b) is positioned substantially on an opposite, second side of said boundary portion (306). Also disclosed is a system implementing the method.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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a base station including a transmitter configured to transmit a guide signal into a guide signal reception field spatially bounded by at least one boundary portion; and a mobile robot including; a drive system configured to drive the robot across a floor; two mutually adjacently disposed guide signal sensors, each of said sensors configured to generate a reference signal that reflects the sensor'"'"'s reception of the guide signal; and a controller operably connected to the drive system and the guide signal sensors, the controller configured to; control the drive system to track the robot along the at least one boundary portion of the guide signal reception field back to the base station based on said reference signals, wherein a first one of said guide signal sensors is positioned substantially inside of the boundary portion of the guide signal reception field and a second one of said guide signal sensors is positioned substantially outside of the boundary portion of the guide signal reception field. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A mobile robot for tracking a boundary portion of a spatially bounded guide signal reception field into which a guide signal is transmitted by a transmitter, said robot comprising:
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a drive system configured to drive the robot across a floor; two mutually adjacently disposed guide signal sensors, each of the sensors configured to generate a reference signal that reflects the reflects to the sensor'"'"'s of the guide signal; and a controller that is operably connected to the drive system and the guide signal sensors, the controller configure to; control the drive system to move the robot, based on said reference signals, wherein a first one of said guide signal sensors is positioned substantially inside the boundary portion of the guided signal reception field and a second one of said guided signal sensors is positioned substantially outside the boundary portion of the guided signal reception field; and
then tracking the robot along the boundary portion of the guided signal field back to the base station. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of guiding a mobile robot to a base station, the method comprising:
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transmitting, a transmitter, a guide signal into a spatially bounded guide signal reception field; generating by each of two mutually adjacently disposed guided signal sensors a reference signal that represents the sensor'"'"'s reception of the guided signal; moving, by a controller, the robot to position a first one of said guide signal sensors substantially inside the boundary portion of the guided signal reception field and a second one of said guide signal sensors substantially outside of said boundary portion of the guided signal reception field, in order to achieve an optimal contrast in an intensity of the reference signals; and then tracking, by the controller, the robot along the boundary portion of the guide signal field back to the base station.
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Specification