Cleaning robot and control method thereof

• US 9,504,369 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2014
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: So, Jea Yun, Yoon, Sang Sik, Kwon, Joon Hyung, Kim, Shin
• Primary Examiner(s): BUTLER, RODNEY ALLEN
• Application Number:
  US14/273,069
• Publication Number:
  US 20140336863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 936 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 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 9/2815 using optical detectors
• 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: G05D 1/0219 ensuring the processing of the whole working surface
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 using a video camera in combination with image processing means

Abstract

A cleaning robot may have a body, a moving unit provided on the body to move the body in a cleaning space, a cleaning unit provided on the body to clean a floor of the cleaning space, a floor image obtaining unit configured to obtain a floor image of the cleaning space, and a control unit configured to determine if foreign substance is present on the floor of the cleaning space based on the floor image, and control the moving unit to move the body to a position of the foreign substance, in which the cleaning robot, by obtaining an image of a floor to be cleaned, detects the foreign substance that is not positioned on a moving track of the cleaning robot, and when the foreign substance is detected, moves to the position of the foreign substance to perform a cleaning.

Claims

1. A cleaning robot, comprising:

a body,

a moving unit which moves the body in a cleaning space,

a cleaning unit which cleans the cleaning space,

an image obtaining unit which obtains an image of the cleaning space, and

a control unit;

which is coupled to the moving unit, the cleaning unit and the image obtaining unit,

which generates a moving track based on a width of a field of view of the image obtaining unit and moves the body along the moving track,

which moves the body from a diverging position on the moving track to a position of a foreign substance when the foreign substance on a floor area of the cleaning space outside the moving track is detected based on the obtained image while moving the body,

which cleans the foreign substance when the body arrives at the position of the foreign substance, and

which moves the body back to the diverging position on the moving track and moves along the moving track.

2. The cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein:

the control unit extracts an image of the floor area from the image, and extracts an image of the foreign substance from the extracted image of the floor area.

3. The cleaning robot of claim 2, wherein:

the control unit extracts the image of the floor area from the image by using a watershed algorithm that uses a marker.

4. The cleaning robot of claim 2, wherein:

the control unit extracts the image of the foreign substance from the image of the floor area by using an edge extracting algorithm.

5. The cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein:

during a cleaning mode, the control unit generates the moving track based on a width of the body, moves the body along the moving track, controls the image obtaining unit and the cleaning unit to obtain the image and clean the floor area of the cleaning space while the body is moving.

6. The cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein:

the control unit controls the moving unit and the cleaning unit to perform a concentrated cleaning on the position of the foreign substance at the time of arrival of the cleaning robot at the position of the foreign substance.

7. The cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein:

the control unit controls the moving unit to move the body to the position of the foreign substance when a distance between the body and the foreign substance is equal to or less than a predetermined distance.

16. The cleaning robot of claim 1, wherein:

when the foreign substance is detected, if the foreign substance detected is more than a predetermined distance from the cleaning robot, the control unit controls the moving unit to move the body along the cleaning track until the distance between the cleaning robot and the foreign substance is less than or equal to the predetermined distance,

the control unit controls the moving unit to move the body to the position of the foreign substance when a distance between the body and the foreign substance is equal to or less than the predetermined distance, and

the control unit controls the moving unit and the cleaning unit to perform a concentrated cleaning on the position of the foreign substance at the time of arrival of the cleaning robot at the position of the foreign substance.

8. A method of controlling a cleaning robot including an image obtaining unit which obtains an image of a cleaning space, the method comprising:

generating a moving track based on a width of a body of the cleaning robot and moving the cleaning robot along the moving track while cleaning, obtaining an image of a floor area of the cleaning space while moving the cleaning robot in the cleaning space,

detecting a foreign substance on the floor area of the cleaning space outside the moving track based on the obtained image while moving the cleaning robot along the moving track,

generating a scouting track based on a width of a field of view of the image obtaining unit, different from the moving track, towards a position of the foreign substance,

moving the cleaning robot from a diverging position on the moving track to the position of the foreign substance along the scouting track,

cleaning the foreign substance when the cleaning robot arrives at the position of the foreign substance, and

moving the cleaning robot back to the diverging position on the moving track and continuing along the moving track.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the moving of the cleaning robot to the position of the foreign substance comprises moving the cleaning robot to the position of the foreign substance when a distance between the cleaning robot and the foreign substance is equal to or less than a predetermined distance.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the detecting of the foreign substance on the floor area of the cleaning space comprises extracting the image of the floor area from the image of the cleaning space, and extracting an image of the foreign substance from the extracted image of the floor area.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the extracting of the image of the floor area comprises extracting the floor area from the floor image by using a watershed algorithm that uses a marker.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the extracting of the image of the foreign substance comprises extracting the image of the foreign substance by using an edge extracting algorithm.

13. A cleaning robot, comprising:

a body;

a moving unit which moves the body;

a cleaning unit which is provided on the body which cleans a cleaning space;

an image obtaining unit which is provided on the body and which obtains an image of the cleaning space; and

a control unit;

which generates a first track based on a width of a field of view of the image obtaining unit, and moves the body along the first track,

which generates a second track from a diverging position on the first track to a position of a foreign substance and moves the body along the second track, when the foreign substance on a floor area of the cleaning space outside the first track is detected based on the obtained image while moving the body,

which cleans the foreign substance when the body arrives at the position of the foreign substance, and

which moves the body back to the diverging position on the first track and moves along the first track.

14. The cleaning robot of claim 13, wherein:

when the body arrives at the position of the foreign substance, the cleaning unit cleans the detected foreign substance.

15. The cleaning robot of claim 13, wherein:

during a cleaning mode, the control unit generates the first track based on a width of the body and moves the body along the first track, and the cleaning unit cleans the cleaning space while the body is moving along the first track.