Omni-directional robot cleaner

• US 20070272463A1
• Filed: 09/21/2006
• Published: 11/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Ho, Yu-Lun, Yu, Hung-Hsiu, Wang, Wei-Han, Chen, Shou-Ren, Chang, Fang
• Granted Patent: US 7,568,536 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 180/167
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 7/22 initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle , or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle

Abstract

An omni-directional robot cleaner, composed of a platform and a plurality of driving units for driving and controlling the movement of the platform, in which the platform further comprises: a sensing unit, for obstacle detection; a-cleaning unit, for collecting and removing dust and dirt; a processing unit, capable of receiving signals transmitted from the sensing unit while planning and mapping a travel path accordingly; and a power unit, for providing power to the omni-directional robot cleaner while managing the same. Moreover, each driving unit of the plural driving units is comprised of an omni-directional wheel and an actuator for driving the corresponding omni-directional wheel to rotate omni-directionally, by which the platform is enabled to move continuously while changing its moving direction simultaneously so as to free the robotic cleaner from the shortcomings of those conventional autonomous cleaner, such as poor maneuverability, poor mobility and insufficient degree-of-freedom regarding to the driving of the cleaner. Therefore, not only the operation mobility of the robotic cleaner is enhanced, but also the moving agility of the same is greatly improved.

Claims

1. An omni-directional robot cleaner, comprising:

a sensing unit, for obstacle detection;

a cleaning unit, for collecting and removing dust and dirt;

a processing unit, capable of receiving signals transmitted from the sensing unit while planning and mapping a travel path accordingly;

a power unit, for providing power to the omni-directional robot cleaner while managing the same;

a platform, for supporting the aforesaid units; and

a plurality of driving units, for driving and controlling the movement of the platform, each being composed of an omni-directional wheel and an actuator.

2. The omni-directional robot cleaner of claim 1, wherein at least three driving units are configured in the omni-directional robot cleaner.

3. The omni-directional robot cleaner of claim 1, wherein all the driving units configured in the omni-directional robot cleaner are equiangularly spaced from each other.

4. The omni-directional robot cleaner of claim 1, wherein the omni-directional wheels of the plural driving units are capable of being enabled to rotate at the same speed.

5. The omni-directional robot cleaner of claim 1, wherein each actuator is a motor.

6. The omni-directional robot cleaner of claim 1, wherein the cleaning unit is a device selected from the group consisting of a brush, a vacuuming apparatus, and the like.