DEBRIS MONITORING

• US 20190223679A1
• Filed: 03/29/2019
• Published: 07/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Original Assignee: iRobot Corporation
• Inventors: Schnittman, Mark Steven, Rosenstein, Michael Todd
• Granted Patent: US 10,758,104 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 11/4013 Contaminants collecting devices, i.e. hoppers, tanks or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4025 Means for emptying
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4041 Roll shaped surface treating tools
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/00 Robotic cleaning machines, i.e. with automatic control of the travelling movement or the cleaning operation
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/02 Docking stations; Docking operations
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/024 Emptying dust or waste liquid containers
• 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 9/106 Dust removal
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/19 Means for monitoring filtering operation
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2805 Parameters or conditions being sensed
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2826 the condition of the floor
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2842 Suction motors or blowers
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2894 Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 11/0085 Cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/47 Scattering, i.e. diffuse reflection G01N21/25, G01N21/41 take precedence G01N21/55 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 8/20 using multiple transmitters or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0217 in accordance with energy consumption, time reduction or distance reduction criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0234 : using optical markers or beacons optical beacons per se G01S1/70

Abstract

A debris monitoring system includes a receptacle, a first and a second emitter, and a first receiver. The receptacle defines an opening to receive debris into the receptacle. The first and second emitter are each arranged to emit a signal across at least a portion of the opening. The first receiver is proximate to the first emitter to receive reflections of the signal emitted by the first emitter, and the first receiver is disposed toward the opening to receive an unreflected portion of the signal emitted by the second emitter across at least a portion of the opening.

Claims

1-18. -18. (canceled)

19. An autonomous cleaning robot comprising:

a drive system to navigate the cleaning robot about a floor surface while the cleaning robot cleans the floor surface;

a debris sensor to detect debris on the floor surface;

a controller configured to, in response to the debris sensor detecting the debris on the floor surface, initiate a spot cleaning mode in which the controller operates the drive system to move the cleaning robot relative to the debris from a central region to a peripheral region along at least one path between the central region and the peripheral region.

20. The cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein the at least one path comprises a pair of paths between the central region and the peripheral region, wherein the pair of paths comprises a first path between the central region and the peripheral region, and a second path between the central region and the peripheral region, the first path being angled relative to the second path.

21. The cleaning robot of claim 20, wherein the pair of paths corresponds to a first pair of paths, and the at least one path comprises a second pair of paths, the first pair of paths being angled relative to the second pair of paths.

22. The cleaning robot of claim 21, wherein an angle between the first pair of paths and the second pair of paths is no more than 90 degrees.

23. The cleaning robot of claim 21, wherein:

in the spot cleaning mode, the controller operates the drive system to move the cleaning robot

from the central region to the peripheral region along the first path of the first pair of paths of the at least one path,

then from the peripheral region to the central region along the second path of the first pair of paths,

then from the central region to the peripheral region along a first path of the second pair of paths, and

then from the peripheral region to the central region along a second path of the second pair of paths.

24. The cleaning robot of claim 20, wherein, in the spot cleaning mode, the controller operates the drive system, after moving the cleaning robot along the first path and before moving the cleaning robot along the second path, to rotate the cleaning robot in place.

25. The cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein the at least one path extends at least 180 degrees about the central region.

26. The cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein the at least one path forms at least a portion of a star pattern.

27. The cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein, in the spot cleaning mode, the controller operates the drive system to move the cleaning robot along the at least one path in a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction based on determining a direction of the debris relative to the cleaning robot.

28. The cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein the at least one path comprise a first path between the central region and the peripheral region, and a second path between the central region and the peripheral region, the first path being angled relative to the second path.

29. The cleaning robot of claim 28, wherein a length of the first path is between 0.5 and 5 times a fore-aft dimension of the cleaning robot.

30. The cleaning robot of claim 28, wherein a length of the first path is a function of a quantity of the debris detected by the debris sensor.

31. The cleaning robot of claim 30, wherein the length of the first path is inversely proportional to the quantity of the debris detected by the debris sensor.

32. The cleaning robot of claim 28, wherein an angle of the first path relative to the second path is no more than 45 degrees.

33. The cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein the central region is centrally oriented relative to an area of the debris.

34. The cleaning robot of claim 19, wherein the central region is substantially peripherally oriented relative to an area of the debris.

35. An autonomous cleaning robot comprising:

a drive system to navigate the cleaning robot about a floor surface while the cleaning robot cleans the floor surface;

a debris sensor to detect debris on the floor surface;

a controller configured to, in response to the debris sensor detecting the debris on the floor surface, initiate a spot cleaning mode in which the controller operates the drive system to move the cleaning robot along a plurality of rows proximate the debris.

36. The cleaning robot of claim 35, wherein, in the spot cleaning mode, the controller operates the drive system to move the cleaning robot in a first direction along a first row until a quantity of the debris detected by the debris sensor falls below a threshold.

37. The cleaning robot of claim 36, wherein, in the spot cleaning mode, the controller operates the drive system, in response to the quantity of the debris detected by the debris sensor falling below the threshold, to move the cleaning robot in a second direction along a second row adjacent to the first row, the second direction being substantially opposite the first direction.

38. The cleaning robot of claim 35, wherein, in the spot cleaning mode, the controller operates the drive system to move the cleaning robot along adjacent rows of the plurality of rows such that cleaning paths of the cleaning robot along the adjacent rows overlap with one another.

39. The cleaning robot of claim 38, wherein an amount of overlap between the cleaning paths is proportional to a quantity of the debris detected by the debris sensor.

40. The cleaning robot of claim 35, wherein the plurality of rows extend substantially perpendicularly to a direction of the debris detected by the debris sensor relative to the cleaning robot.