Robot with automatic styles

• US 10,394,246 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2017
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vorwerk & Company Interholding Gesellschaft Mit Beschrã¤Nkter Haftung (Vorwerk & Company KG)
• Original Assignee: Neato Robotics, Inc. (Vorwerk & Company KG)
• Inventors: Moshkina-Martinson, Lilia, Holtz, Kristen
• Primary Examiner(s): Rink, Ryan
• Application Number:
  US15/475,983
• Publication Number:
  US 20180284786A1
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• 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 9/2826 the condition of the floor
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2831 Motor parameters, e.g. motor load or speed
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2847 Surface treating elements
• 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 9/2857 User input or output elements for control, e.g. buttons, switches or displays
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2894 Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0217 in accordance with energy consumption, time reduction or distance reduction criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0219 ensuring the processing of the whole working surface
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30

Abstract

Embodiments provide a plurality of personalized, user selectable styles. Each style is determined by a combination of dimensions. Each style, except the default balanced style, prioritizes one of the dimensions over the other cleaning dimensions. In one embodiment, the styles are cleaning styles and the cleaning dimensions are cleaning time, coverage and obstacle avoidance. The cleaning styles are gentle, fast, thorough and balanced. The gentle style protects expensive furniture, with obstacle avoidance prioritized over cleaning time and coverage. The fast style cleans quickly, prioritizing cleaning time over coverage and obstacle avoidance. The thorough style prioritizes coverage over cleaning time and obstacle avoidance. The balanced style prioritizes all three cleaning dimensions substantially the same. The prioritization is achieved through adjustments to the autonomous robot navigation. User selection of a style can be achieved directly or automatically based on various mechanisms, such as user history.

Claims

1. A mobile robotic system comprising:

a housing;

a drive motor mounted in the housing;

a drive system, coupled to the drive motor, for moving a robotic apparatus;

a processor;

a distance and object detection sensor;

a non-transitory computer readable media, coupled to the processor, containing instructions for;

selecting a style from a plurality of styles responsive to an input command from a user,

automatically selecting parameters for the style,

determining a plurality of parameters for a plurality of dimensions of the style, and

prioritizing one of the dimensions for the style over others of the dimensions for a plurality of the styles;

wherein;

the styles include a gentle style, a fast style and a thorough style;

the dimensions include time, obstacle avoidance and coverage;

the gentle style prioritizing obstacle avoidance over time and coverage;

the fast style prioritizing time over coverage and obstacle avoidance; and

the thorough style prioritizing coverage over time and obstacle avoidance.

2. The mobile robotic system of claim 1 further comprising a balanced style prioritizing all three dimensions substantially the same.

3. The mobile robotic system of claim 1 wherein the prioritization comprises adjustments to a table of parameters used for a robot navigation control program.

4. The mobile robotic system of claim 1 wherein the distance and object detection sensor comprises a laser, and further comprising:

a second non-transitory, computer readable media including instructions for performing a LIDAR algorithm.

5. The mobile robotic system of claim 1 wherein the distance and object detection sensor comprises a source providing collimated light output in an emitted light beam and a detector sensor operative to detect a reflected light beam from the emitted light beam incident on an object, and further comprising:

a rotating mount to which said source and said detector sensor are attached;

an angular orientation sensor operative to detect an angular orientation of the rotating mount;

a second non-transitory, computer readable media including instructions for

computing distance between the rotating mount and the object,

determining a direction of the stationary object relative to the robotic apparatus using the angular orientation of the rotating mount, and

applying a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm to the distance and the direction to determine a location of the robotic device and to map an operating environment.

6. The mobile robotic system of claim 1 further comprising:

a cleaning element mounted in the housing;

a cleaning element motor coupled to the cleaning element; and

wherein the styles are cleaning styles and the dimensions are cleaning dimensions.

7. The mobile robotic system of claim 1, further comprising,

an application, downloaded to a user device, including non-transitory computer readable media with instructions for prompting and responding to the input command from a user and for transmitting the input command to the processor;

and

a wireless receiver, mounted in the housing and coupled to the processor, for receiving the transmitted input command.

8. The mobile robotic system of claim 1 wherein the style is selected by one of (1) direct selection by the user of a certain style, (b) automatic selection based on initial input from the user via a questionnaire, (c) automatic selection and tuning based on an operational history of a particular environment, and (d) automatic selection learned from a history of user selections.

9. A mobile robotic system comprising:

a housing;

a drive motor mounted in the housing;

a drive system, coupled to the drive motor, for moving a robotic apparatus;

a cleaning element, mounted in the housing;

a processor;

a distance and object detection sensor comprising a source providing collimated light output in an emitted light beam and a detector sensor operative to detect a reflected light beam from the emitted light beam incident on an object, and further comprising;

a rotating mount to which said source and said detector sensor are attached;

an angular orientation sensor operative to detect an angular orientation of the rotating mount;

a first non-transitory, computer readable media including instructions for

computing distance between the rotating mount and the object,

determining a direction of the stationary object relative to the robotic device using the angular orientation of the rotating mount, and applying a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm to the distance and the direction to determine a location of the robotic apparatus and to map an operating environment;

a second non-transitory computer readable media, coupled to the processor, containing instructions for;

selecting a cleaning style from a plurality of cleaning styles responsive to an input command from a user,

automatically selecting parameters for the cleaning style,

determining a plurality of parameters for a plurality of dimensions of the cleaning style, and

prioritizing one of the cleaning dimensions for the cleaning style over others of the cleaning dimensions for a plurality of the cleaning styles;

wherein;

the cleaning styles include a gentle style, a fast style, a thorough style and a balanced style;

the cleaning dimensions include cleaning time, obstacle avoidance and coverage;

the gentle style prioritizing obstacle avoidance over cleaning time and coverage;

the fast style prioritizing cleaning time over coverage and obstacle avoidance;

the thorough style prioritizing coverage over cleaning time and obstacle avoidance;

the balanced style prioritizing all three cleaning dimensions substantially the same;

wherein the prioritization comprises adjustments to a table of parameters used for a robot navigation control program;

an application, downloaded to a user device, including non-transitory computer readable media with instructions for prompting and responding to the input command from a user and for transmitting the input command to the processor; and

a wireless receiver, mounted in the housing and coupled to the processor, for receiving the transmitted input command.

10. The mobile robotic system of claim 9 wherein the first and second non-transitory computer readable media comprise parts of a single physical media.

11. A method for controlling a mobile cleaning robot comprising:

selecting a cleaning style from a plurality of cleaning styles responsive to an input command from a user,

automatically selecting parameters for the cleaning style,

determining a plurality of parameters for a plurality of dimensions of the cleaning style, and

prioritizing one of the cleaning dimensions for the cleaning style over others of the cleaning dimensions for a plurality of the cleaning styles;

wherein;

the cleaning styles include a gentle style, a fast style and a thorough style;

the cleaning dimensions include cleaning time, obstacle avoidance and coverage;

the gentle style prioritizing obstacle avoidance over cleaning time and coverage;

the fast style prioritizing cleaning time over coverage and obstacle avoidance; and

the thorough style prioritizing coverage over cleaning time and obstacle avoidance.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising a balanced style prioritizing all three cleaning dimensions substantially the same.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the prioritization comprises adjustments to a table of parameters used for a robot navigation control program.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the mobile cleaning robot includes a source providing collimated light output in an emitted light beam and a detector sensor operative to detect a reflected light beam from the emitted light beam incident on an object, a rotating mount to which said source and said detector sensor are attached, and an angular orientation sensor operative to detect an angular orientation of the rotating mount, the method further comprising:

computing distance between the rotating mount and the object,

determining a direction of the stationary object relative to the robotic device using the angular orientation of the rotating mount, and

applying a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm to the distance and the direction to determine a location of the robotic device and to map an operating environment.

15. A non-transitory computer readable media, coupled to a processor for controlling a robot, containing instructions for:

selecting a style from a plurality of styles responsive to an input command from a user,

automatically selecting parameters for the style,

determining a plurality of parameters for a plurality of dimensions of the style, and

prioritizing one of the dimensions for the style over others of the dimensions for a plurality of the styles;

wherein;

the styles include a gentle style, a fast style and a thorough style;

the dimensions include time, obstacle avoidance and coverage;

the gentle style prioritizing obstacle avoidance over time and coverage;

the fast style prioritizing time over coverage and obstacle avoidance; and

the thorough style prioritizing coverage over time and obstacle avoidance.

16. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15 further comprising a balanced style prioritizing all three dimensions substantially the same.

17. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15 wherein the prioritization comprises adjustments to a table of parameters used for a robot navigation control program.