CONTROL METHOD FOR A ROBOT VEHICLE, AND ROBOT VEHICLE

• US 20110125358A1
• Filed: 12/09/2008
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Albert, Amos, Biber, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,447,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/25
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 34/008 for automated or remotely controlled operation
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0219 ensuring the processing of the whole working surface
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0272 comprising means for registering the travel distance, e.g. revolutions of wheels measuring distance traversed on the ground by vehicles, e.g. using odometers G01C22/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling driving means which are designed to steer and move a robot vehicle (3) that is particularly designed as a lawn mowing vehicle. In said control method, the driving means are controlled in such a way that the robot vehicle (3) travels through several sections (2) of a working area (8) in a specific movement pattern according to a section travel strategy with the help of dead reckoning such that two adjoining course sections (5) overlap with a predefined probability transversely to the direction of travel of the robot vehicle (3). The invention further relates to a robot vehicle (3).

Claims

1. Control method for controlling driving means which are designed to steer and move a robot vehicle that is particularly designed as a lawn mowing vehicle, the driving means being controlled in such a way that the robot vehicle travels through several sections of a working area in each case in a specific movement pattern according to a section travel strategy with the help of dead reckoning such that in each case two adjoining course sections overlap with a predefined probability transversely to the direction of travel of the robot vehicle.

2. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the position of the sections on the working area is set with the help of a higher-ranking travel strategy.

3. The control strategy according to claim 1, wherein the driving means are controlled according to the section travel strategy in such a way that a change in direction of the robot vehicle takes place as soon as a course section presently being traversed by the robot vehicle and a course section completed prior to the aforementioned course section no longer overlap with the predefined probability.

4. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the drive means are controlled according to the section travel strategy in such a way that a change in direction of the robot vehicle takes place if a position estimation error, which occurs transversely to the direction of travel of the robot vehicle, no longer lies below a limit value with a predefined probability.

5. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the driving means are controlled according to the section travel strategy in such a way that a change in direction then takes place if the standard deviation reaches a limit value.

6. The control method according to claim 5, wherein the limit value is calculated on the basis of a predefined probability and a predefined overlap of the adjoining course sections as well as while taking the sum of the position estimation errors of the adjoining course sections into account.

7. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the movement pattern is sinuous according to the section travel strategy and in that the change in direction is carried out as a 180E turn.

8. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the travel on a section is concluded if a predefined path length was traversed and/or if a predefined travel time has elapsed and/or if a border of the working area is reached and/or if a section already traversed, in particular already worked on, is reached.

9. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the higher-ranking travel strategy is a random navigation strategy, in particular one which takes the degree of completion of the working area into account.

10. The control strategy according to claim 2, wherein the higher-ranking travel strategy is a satellite-navigation based travel strategy.

11. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the higher-ranking travel strategy is a visual navigation strategy, preferably employing at least one panoramic camera.

12. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the sections are preferably plotted in a digital map with a surface extent that has been pessimistically estimated.

13. The control method according to claim 1, wherein a digital probabilistic coverage map of the working area is created, which indicates with what likelihood regions of the working area have already been traversed.

14. Robot vehicle, in particular a lawn mowing vehicle, having control means, which are preferably designed for carrying out a method according to claim 1, for controlling driving means which are designed to steer and move the robot vehicle, the control means being designed in such a way that they control the driving means such that the robot vehicle travels through several sections of a working area in each case in a specific movement pattern according to a section travel strategy with the help of dead reckoning such that in each case two adjoining course sections overlap with a minimum probability transversely to the direction of travel of said robot vehicle.