Method for autonomously controlling speed of components and functions of a robot

• US 10,795,377 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2019
• Issued: 10/06/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ai Incorprated
• Original Assignee: Ai Incorprated
• Inventors: Afrouzi, Ali Ebrahimi, Nasiri, Masoud, McDonald, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Sample, Jonathan L
• Application Number:
  US16/239,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20190204851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• Field of Search: 700245-264
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/24 Floor-sweeping machines, motor-driven
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4011 Regulation of the cleaning machine by electric means; Control systems and remote control systems therefor
• 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 9/0405 Driving means for the brushes or agitators
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/0488 Combinations or arrangements of several tools, e.g. edge cleaning tools
• 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: B25J 11/0085 Cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1633 compliant, force, torque control, e.g. combined with position control
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1664 characterised by motion, path, trajectory planning
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 40/00 Technologies aiming at improving the efficiency of home appliances, e.g. induction cooking or efficient technologies for refrigerators, freezers or dish washers

Abstract

Provided is a robot, including: a first actuator; a first sensor; one or more processors communicatively coupled to the first actuator and to the first sensor; and memory storing instructions that when executed by at least some of the one or more processors effectuate operations comprising: determining a first location of the robot in a working environment; obtaining, with the first sensor, first data indicative of an environmental characteristic of the first location; and adjusting a first operational parameter of the first actuator based on the sensed first data, wherein the adjusting is configured to cause the first operational parameter to be in a first adjusted state while the robot is at the first location.

Claims

1. A robot, comprising:

a main brush;

a peripheral brush;

a first actuator;

a first sensor, wherein the first sensor is an optical sensor;

one or more processors communicatively coupled to the first actuator and to the first sensor; and

memory storing instructions that when executed by at least some of the one or more processors effectuate operations comprising;

determining a first location of the robot in a working environment;

obtaining, with the first sensor, first data indicative of an environmental characteristic of the first location;

adjusting a first operational parameter of the first actuator based on the sensed first data, wherein the adjusting is configured to cause the first operational parameter to be in a first adjusted state while the robot is at the first location; and

forming or updating a debris map of the working environment based on data output by the first sensor or another sensor configured to sense debris on a floor of the working environment over a plurality of cleaning sessions, wherein;

the first actuator or another actuator is configured to drive the main brush or the peripheral brush;

the peripheral brush comprises a plurality of arms; and

at least some of the arms comprise bristles extending from the respective arm, the bristles being secured to one another with stitching using one or more of the following techniques;

stitching a line across the bristles in a direction perpendicular to the length of the bristles, stitching two lines in opposite directions diagonally across the width of the bristles, or stitching a crisscross pattern across the bristles in a direction perpendicular to the length of the bristles, wherein the one or more techniques prevents bristles from being forcibly plucked during operation of the robot.

2. The robot of claim 1, wherein:

the first actuator is a motor configured to drive rotation of a vacuum impeller, fan, or blower;

the first operational parameter is motor speed or torque;

the environmental characteristic is a type of flooring in an ontology of floor types that distinguishes between carpet flooring and other types of flooring; and

adjusting comprises increasing the motor speed or torque in response to determining the robot is over carpet flooring relative to motor speed or torque applied when the robot is over other types of flooring.

3. The robot of claim 1, wherein:

the first sensor is configured to sense debris on the floor of the working environment.

4. The robot of claim 1, comprising:

a second actuator configured to drive rotation of the peripheral brush;

a transmission coupling the second actuator to the peripheral brush, wherein;

the transmission has a gearing ratio configured to cause the peripheral brush to rotate at a slower speed than the second actuator; and

the transmission has a reversible direction of transmission.

5. The robot of claim 4, wherein the transmission is configured to be manually rotated by a person turning the peripheral brush by hand.

6. The robot of claim 1, wherein:

the first actuator is one of the following;

a motor configured to drive the robot, a ultraviolet light, a motor configured to drive a pump, a solenoid valve, a motor configured to drive a vacuum impeller, a motor configured to drive a main brush, a motor configured to drive a peripheral brush, an actuator configured to adjust a height of the main brush or peripheral brush, a motor configured to drive a mop, a motor configured to drive blades of a grass cutter, or a motor configured drive a blower.

7. The robot of claim 1, comprising:

a second sensor coupled to one or more processors, wherein;

the environmental characteristic is inferred based on output from both the first sensor and the second sensor, and

the second sensor is one of the following;

a motion sensor, a debris sensor, a current sensor, a torque sensor, a planarity sensor, a hardness sensor, an acoustic sensor, a cliff sensor, distance sensor, a tactile sensor, or an obstacle sensor.

8. The robot of claim 1, wherein:

the first location is determined with simultaneous localization and mapping based on data from a plurality of sensors of the robot; and

the robot comprises means for autonomously adjusting operational parameters of actuators based on currently sensed and historically sensed environmental characteristics of the working environment.

9. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

causing the robot to traverse the working environment; and

mapping a plurality of environmental characteristics of the working environment with the first sensor and a second sensor.

10. The robot of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

determining at least part of a route of the robot based on locations of environmental characteristics of the working environment indicated by the mapping.

11. The robot of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

adjusting a second operational parameter of a second actuator based on locations of environmental characteristics of the working environment indicated by the mapping.

12. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

inferring the environmental characteristic of the first location based on the first data and a second data obtained from one or more historical working sessions of the robot obtained while the robot was previously at the first location.

13. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

determining a second location of the robot in the working environment;

obtaining, with the first sensor, second data indicative of the environmental characteristic of the second location; and

adjusting the first operational parameter of the first actuator based on the sensed second data to cause the first operational parameter to be in a second adjusted state while the robot is at the second location.

14. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

classifying an area including the first location and corresponding the area to a unit tile of a regular tiling map of the working environment based on the first data to indicate an inferred type of flooring.

15. The robot of claim 14, wherein the operations comprise:

scoring the unit tile based on historical rates of dirt accumulation in the area corresponding to the unit tile.

16. The robot of claim 1, the operations comprising:

causing values based on data sensed by the first sensor to be sent via a network to a remote computing system; and

receiving, from the remote computing system, a multi-channel bitmap with spatial dimensions corresponding to locations in the working environment and a plurality of environmental-characteristic dimensions having values at each spatial coordinate of the spatial dimensions.

17. The robot of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

decreasing motor speed in response to determining that the robot is at a location where people are present or are historically present;

increasing main-brush speed in response to determining that the robot is over carpet; and

increasing vacuum impeller speed in response to determining that the robot is over an area with a higher historical amount of dirt accumulation than other areas of the working environment.

18. The robot of claim 1, wherein:

the optical sensor is a time-of-flight sensor, a structured light sensor, or a camera.

19. The robot of claim 1, wherein:

the environmental characteristic is a type of flooring,

the optical sensor is on or adjacent a bottom of the robot; and

the floor type is inferred based on an amount of distortion or scattering of light caused by flooring at the first location and sensed by the optical sensor.

20. A robot, comprising:

a main brush;

a peripheral brush;

a first actuator;

a first sensor configured to sense debris on a floor of a working environment;

one or more processors communicatively coupled to the first actuator and to the first sensor; and

memory storing instructions that when executed by at least some of the one or more processors effectuate operations comprising;

determining a first location of the robot in the working environment;

obtaining, with the first sensor, first data indicative of an amount of debris at the first location;

forming or updating a debris map of the working environment based on data output by the first sensor over a plurality of cleaning sessions; and

adjusting a first operational parameter of the first actuator based on the sensed first data, wherein the adjusting is configured to cause the first operational parameter to be in a first adjusted state while the robot is at the first location, wherein;

the first actuator or another actuator is configured to drive the main brush or the peripheral brush;

the peripheral brush comprises a plurality of arms; and

at least some of the arms comprise bristles extending from the respective arm, the bristles being secured to one another with stitching using one or more of the following techniques;

stitching a line across the bristles in a direction perpendicular to the length of the bristles, stitching two lines in opposite directions diagonally across the width of the bristles, or stitching a crisscross pattern across the bristles in a direction perpendicular to the length of the bristles, wherein the one or more techniques prevents bristles from being forcibly plucked during operation of the robot.

21. The robot of claim 20, wherein the operations comprise:

segmenting the floor of the working environment into a plurality of cells; and

assigning one or more debris accumulation scores to each of at least some of the cells among the plurality of cells based on one or more of;

the data output by the first sensor over the plurality of cleaning sessions, time elapsed since a last cleaning session, and type of cleaning performed in the last cleaning session,

wherein respective one or more debris accumulation scores indicate respective one or more probabilities that respective cells have accumulated more than one or more threshold amount of debris.

22. The robot of claim 21, wherein the operations comprise:

assigning a debris classification to each of at least some of the cells among the plurality of cells based on one or more of;

the data output by the first sensor over the plurality of cleaning sessions, time elapsed since a last cleaning session, and type of cleaning performed in the last cleaning session.

23. The robot of claim 21, wherein the operations comprise:

determining a route of the robot through the plurality of cells based on respective debris accumulation scores of the plurality of cells.

24. The robot of claim 20, wherein the operations comprise:

obtaining, with a second sensor, second data indicative of obstacles within the environment;

inferring a level of obstacle density or predicting a risk of stalling or colliding with obstacles in an area of the environment; and

adjusting a wheel speed of the robot based on the level of obstacle density in the area.

25. The robot of claim 20, wherein the robot comprises a mop and wherein the operations comprise:

obtaining, with a third sensor, data indicative of a floor type;

activating or deactivating the mop based on the floor type or an input provided to an application of a communication device paired with the robot.

26. The robot of claim 20, wherein the operations comprise:

authenticating a second robot or a fixed sensing device;

upon authenticating the second robot or the fixed sensing device, establishing a connection with the second robot or the fixed sensing device; and

obtaining data from the second robot or the fixed sensing device.

27. The robot of claim 20, wherein the operations comprise:

generating or updating a map of the environment;

dividing the map of the environment into subareas;

obtaining instructions from an application of a communication device paired with the robot based on input provided to the application through a user interface, wherein the application is configured to receive at least one input designating at least one of;

a modification, addition, or deletion of information to the map of the environment;

a modification or addition of environmental characteristics of different locations within the map of the environment;

a modification or addition of floor type of different locations within the map of environment;

a modification or addition of levels of debris accumulation of different locations within the map of environment;

a modification or addition of a specific type or size of debris of different locations within the map of environment;

a modification or addition of obstacles in different locations within the map of environment;

a modification, addition, or deletion of perimeters to the map of the environment;

a modification, addition, or deletion of doorways to the map of the environment;

a modification, addition, or deletion of subareas to the map of the environment;

a modification, addition, or deletion of a cleaning path to the map of the environment;

a selection or modification of a function of the robot;

a selection or modification of a setting of the robot;

a selection or modification of a cleaning schedule of the robot;

a selection or modification of an order of coverage of subareas; and

a selection or modification of impeller speed, main brush speed, wheel speed, or peripheral brush speed.

28. The robot of claim 27, wherein the user interface is an audio user interface of a smart speaker.

29. The robot of claim 20, wherein the operations comprise at least one of:

ordering the subareas for cleaning;

labelling the subareas of the floor plan; and

instructing the robot to prioritize cleaning cells with a particular environmental characteristic first.

30. A method for controlling a first actuator of a robot, comprising:

determining, with a processor of the robot, a first location of a robot in a working environment;

obtaining, with a first sensor of the robot, first data indicative of an amount of debris at the first location;

forming or updating, with the processor of the robot, a debris map of the working environment based on data output by the first sensor, wherein;

the first sensor is configured to sense debris on a floor of the working environment;

the processor is communicatively coupled to the first actuator and to the first sensor;

the robot comprises a main brush and a peripheral brush;

the first actuator or another actuator is configured to drive the main brush or the peripheral brush;

the peripheral brush comprises a plurality of arms; and

at least some of the arms comprise bristles extending from the respective arm, the bristles being secured to one another with stitching using one or more of the following techniques;

stitching a line across the bristles in a direction perpendicular to the length of the bristles, stitching two lines in opposite directions diagonally across the width of the bristles, or stitching a crisscross pattern across the bristles in a direction perpendicular to the length of the bristles, wherein the one or more techniques prevents bristles from being forcibly plucked during operation of the robot.