Autonomous mobile robot

• US 10,390,483 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2018
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Inventors: Balutis, Paul C., Likhite, Alec, Doughty, Brian, Karlson, Jeff, Nikitas, Tyler
• Primary Examiner(s): Oh, Harry Y
• Application Number:
  US16/106,540
• Publication Number:
  US 20180352735A1
• Time in Patent Office: 371 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 34/008 for automated or remotely controlled operation
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 5/007 mounted on wheels
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0011 associated with a remote control arrangement
• 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 1/0221 involving a learning process
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/028 using a RF signal

Abstract

A robot lawnmower includes a robot body, a drive system, a localizing system, a teach monitor, and a controller in communication with one another. The drive system is configured to maneuver the robot lawnmower over a lawn. The teach monitor determines whether the robot lawnmower is in a teachable state. The controller includes a data processing device and non-transitory memory in communication with the data processing device. The data processing device executes a teach routine when the controller is in a teach mode for tracing a confinement perimeter around the lawn as a human operator pilots the robot lawn mower, when the robot lawnmower is in the teachable state, the teach routine stores global positions determined by the localizing system in the non-transitory memory, and when the robot lawnmower is in the unteachable state, the teach routine issues an indication of the unteachable state.

Claims

1. An autonomous robot lawnmower comprising:

a drive system configured to maneuver the autonomous robot lawnmower over a lawn;

one or more sensors configured to determine that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on untraversable terrain; and

a controller in communication with the drive system and the one or more sensors, the controller configured to cause a human-perceptible alert to be provided to a human operator in response to the one or more sensors determining that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on the untraversable terrain,

wherein configurations of the controller to cause the human-perceptible alert to be provided comprise configurations to cause the human-perceptible alert to be provided in a teach mode in response to the autonomous robot lawnmower being piloted onto the untraversable terrain.

2. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

initiate the teach mode in which the controller stores data indicative of a confinement perimeter as the human operator pilots the autonomous robot lawnmower along the confinement perimeter, and

initiate an autonomous mode in which the drive system maneuvers the autonomous robot lawnmower about the lawn to mow the lawn and to avoid crossing the confinement perimeter.

3. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 2, wherein, in the teach mode, the controller wirelessly receives data to control movement of the autonomous robot lawnmower along the confinement perimeter.

4. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, further comprising a navigation system in communication with the controller, the navigation system configured to determine positions of the autonomous robot lawnmower as the autonomous robot lawnmower is maneuvered over the lawn,

wherein the one or more sensors comprises at least one sensor of the navigation system.

5. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, further comprising a sensor system in communication with the controller, the sensor system comprising at least one of:

an inertial measurement unit responsive to a moment of inertia of the autonomous robot lawnmower;

an obstacle sensor responsive to proximity of an obstacle on the lawn along a drive path of the autonomous robot lawnmower;

a tilt sensor responsive to tilt of the autonomous robot lawnmower;

a cliff sensor responsive to an elevation change proximate the autonomous robot lawnmower;

a drop sensor responsive to a drop of a drive element of the drive system;

an accelerometer responsive to speed of the autonomous robot lawnmower across the lawn;

or

a confinement sensor responsive to proximity of the autonomous robot lawnmower to a marker usable by the autonomous robot lawnmower to determine a position of the autonomous robot lawnmower,

wherein the one or more sensors comprises at least one sensor of the sensor system.

6. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, wherein configurations of the controller to cause the human-perceptible alert to be provided to the human operator comprise configurations to cause the human-perceptible alert to be provided to the human operator during manual piloting, by the human operator, of the autonomous robot lawnmower.

7. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 6, wherein the human-perceptible alert indicates a piloting correction in a pose or a motion of the autonomous robot lawnmower.

8. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to wirelessly transmit data to an operator feedback unit to provide the human-perceptible alert to the human operator.

9. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, further comprising an operator feedback unit in communication with the controller, wherein the controller is configured to provide, using the operator feedback unit, the human-perceptible alert to the human operator.

10. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, wherein the human-perceptible alert comprises an audible, a visual, or a tactile human-perceptible alert.

11. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more sensors are configured to determine that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on traversable terrain,

the human-perceptible alert is a first human-perceptible alert, and

the controller is further configured to cause a second human-perceptible alert to be provided to the human operator in response to the one or more sensors determining that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on the traversable terrain.

12. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 11, wherein:

configurations of the controller to cause the first human-perceptible alert to be provided to the human operator comprise configurations to cause a visual indicator to be illuminated in a first color, and

configurations of the controller to cause the second human-perceptible alert to be provided to the human operator comprise configurations to cause the visual indicator be illuminated in a second color.

13. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to cause the visual indicator to provide a third human-perceptible alert in response to the autonomous robot lawnmower being moved toward the untraversable terrain.

14. The autonomous robot lawnmower of claim 1, wherein the untraversable terrain comprises bumpy terrain or tilted terrain.

15. A method of providing human-perceptible alerts indicative of operations of an autonomous robot lawnmower, the method comprising:

receiving, by an operator feedback unit, a signal indicating that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on untraversable terrain along a lawn; and

providing, by the operator feedback unit in response to the signal, a human-perceptible alert indicating that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on the untraversable terrain,

wherein providing, by the operator feedback unit in response to the signal, the human-perceptible alert indicating that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on the untraversable terrain comprises providing the human-perceptible in a teach mode in response to the autonomous robot lawnmower being piloted onto the untraversable terrain.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving the signal comprises wirelessly receiving, by the operator feedback unit, the signal from the autonomous robot lawnmower.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the human-perceptible alert indicates that the autonomous robot lawnmower is in an unteachable state as the autonomous robot lawnmower is piloted about a confinement perimeter along the lawn in the teach mode.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the human-perceptible alert indicates a piloting correction in a pose or a motion of the autonomous robot lawnmower.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting, by the operator feedback unit, data to control movement of the autonomous robot lawnmower along the confinement perimeter.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting, by the operator feedback unit, data to initiate an autonomous mode of the autonomous robot lawnmower in which the autonomous robot lawnmower is maneuvered about the lawn to mow the lawn and to avoid crossing the confinement perimeter.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein providing the human-perceptible alert comprises providing, by the operator feedback unit, a vibration, an audible alert, or a visual alert.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the signal is a first signal,

the human-perceptible alert is a first human-perceptible alert, and

the method further comprises;

receiving, by the operator feedback unit, a second signal indicating that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on traversable terrain; and

providing, by the operator feedback unit in response to the second signal, a second human-perceptible alert indicating that the autonomous robot lawnmower is on the traversable terrain.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving, by the operator feedback unit, a third signal indicating that the autonomous robot is moving toward the untraversable terrain; and

providing, by the operator feedback unit in response to the third signal, a third human-perceptible alert indicating that the autonomous robot lawnmower is moving toward the untraversable terrain.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein the untraversable terrain comprises bumpy terrain or tilted terrain.