Autonomous moving floor-treating robot and control method thereof for edge-following floor-treating

• US 8,744,628 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2010
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecovacs Robotics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: ECOVACS Robotics Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Tang, Jinju
• Primary Examiner(s): Jen, Ian
• Application Number:
  US13/500,802
• Publication Number:
  US 20120232696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,404 Days
• Field of Search: 700/245, 700/250, 700/252, 700/258
• US Class Current: 700/258
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4061 Steering means; Means for avoiding obstacles; Details related to the place where the driver is accommodated
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/04 Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/009 Carrying-vehicles; Arrangements of trollies or wheels; Means for avoiding mechanical obstacles
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0238 using obstacle or wall sensors G05D1/0246 and G05D1/0289 take precedence; lidar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S17/93

Abstract

An autonomous moving floor-treating robot and a control method thereof for edge-following floor-treating are provided. The control method includes the following steps: the floor-treating robot collides with an obstacle and is deflected toward the direction away from the obstacle by a basic angle after the collision, measures an initial signal strength value by a side-looking sensor after the deflection, and then moves on and treats the floor; a real-time signal strength value is acquired by said side-looking sensor alter the robot runs for a predetermined time; the difference value between said two signal strength values is compared, and whether the difference value is in a predetermined range is judged, if yes, the robot keeps moving and treating the floor, if not, the robot is driven to be deflected by an adjusting angle and acquires the current real-time signal strength value; the difference value between said current and the last real-time signal strength values is compared, and whether the difference value is in a predetermined range is judged, if yes, the robot keeps moving and treating the floor, if not, the steps of deflection, comparing and so on are implemented. The present invention is unaffected by the media of the obstacle, and can effectively treat the edge region of the obstacle.

Claims

1. A control method applied to an autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating, characterized in the following:

the control method comprises the following steps;

step 1;

the floor-treating robot collides with an obstacle and is deflected toward the direction away from the obstacle by a basic angle after the collision, measures an initial signal strength value by a side-looking sensor after the deflection, and then moves on and treats the floor;

step 2;

a real-time signal strength value is acquired by said side-looking sensor after the robot has run for a predetermined time;

step 3;

the difference value between said real-time signal strength value and said initial signal strength value is compared, and whether the difference value is in a predetermined range is judged, if yes, the robot keeps moving and treating the floor;

if not, proceed to step 4;

step 4;

the robot is driven to be deflected by an adjusting angle in the direction away from or approaching the obstacle and acquires the current real-time signal strength value;

step 5;

the difference value between the currently acquired real-time signal strength value and the real-time signal strength value acquired last time is obtained through comparison, and whether the difference value is in a predetermined range is judged, if yes, the robot keeps moving and treating the floor;

if not, proceed to step 4.

2. The control method applied to an autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 1, characterized in the following:

in step 1, the value of basic angle is determined according to the sense signals of the angle recognition sensors provided on different points at the end of the robot in direction of the robot'"'"'s walking as well the corresponding relation between the angle recognition sensor and the basic angle.

3. The control method applied to an autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 2, characterized in the following:

when there is one said side-looking sensor, and two angle recognition sensors are set at the end of the robot in direction of the robot'"'"'s walking, the corresponding relation between the angle recognition sensor and the basic angle is described as follows;

when the detected sensor signal is sent from the angle recognition sensor on the same side of the side-looking sensor, the corresponding basic angle is 45°

;

when the detected sensor signal is sent from the angle recognition sensor on the opposite side of the side-looking sensor, the corresponding basic angle is 135°

;

when the detected sensor signals are sent from two angle recognition sensors, the corresponding basic angle is 90°

.

4. The control method applied to an autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 2, characterized in the following:

when there is one side-looking sensor, and six angle recognition sensors are set at the end of the robot in direction of the robot'"'"'s walking, the corresponding relation between the angle recognition sensor and the basic angle is described as follows;

when the detected sensor signal is sent from single angle recognition sensor, starting from the first angle recognition sensor on the same side of the side-looking sensor, the corresponding basic angles are 0°

, 36°

, 72°

, 108°

, 144° and

180°

respectively;

when the detected sense signals from a plurality of angle recognition sensors are detected, the basic angle is equivalent to the average value of the angles corresponding to two adjacent angle recognition sensors with the largest signal strength;

or the basic angle is equivalent to the sum of the products, each of which is obtained when the angle corresponding to each angle recognition sensor is multiplied with its respective weight.

5. The control method applied to an autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 2, characterized in the following:

when there are two said side-looking sensors, and two angle recognition sensors are set at the end of the robot in direction of the robot'"'"'s walking, the corresponding relation between the angle recognition sensor and the basic angle is described as follows;

when the detected sensor signal is sent from single angle recognition sensor, the basic angle corresponding to each angle recognition sensor is 45°

.

6. The control method applied to an autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 2, characterized in the following:

when there are two side-looking sensors, and six angle recognition sensors are set at the end of the robot in direction of the robot'"'"'s walking, the corresponding relation between the angle recognition sensor and the basic angle is as follows;

when the detected sensor signal is sent from single angle recognition sensor, starting from the first of the angle recognition sensors on the same side of the angle recognition sensor, the corresponding basic angles are 0°

, 36°

, and 72°

respectively;

when the detected sense signals from a plurality of angle recognition sensors are detected, the basic angle is equivalent to the average value of the angles corresponding to two adjacent angle recognition sensors with the largest signal strength;

or the basic angle is equivalent to the sum of the products, each of which is obtained when the angle corresponding to each angle recognition sensor is multiplied with its respective weight.

7. The control method applied to autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 1, characterized in the following:

if the difference value obtained by subtracting the last real-time signal strength from the present real-time signal strength is a negative value beyond the predetermined range, the robot is driven to be deflected by an adjusting angle in the direction approaching the obstacle.

8. The control method applied to autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 1, characterized in the following:

if the difference value obtained by subtracting the last real-time signal strength from the present real-time signal strength is a positive value beyond the predetermined range, the robot is driven to be deflected by an adjusting angle in the direction away from the obstacle.

9. The control method applied to autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 1, characterized in the following:

the adjusting angle is a fixed angle or is determined according to the functional relation between the angle and the difference value that is between the current real-time value of signal strength and the last real-time value of signal strength.

10. The control method applied to autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 9, characterized in the following:

the adjusting angle is 0˜

20°

.

11. The control method applied to autonomous moving floor-treating robot for edge-following floor-treating of claim 10, characterized in the following:

the adjusting angle is 0˜

10°

.

12. An autonomous moving floor-treating robot, comprising a functional component, a walking unit, a driving unit and a side-looking sensor located on the side of robot and a control unit;

the side-looking sensor is designed to detect whether there is an obstacle on the side of robot and to send the detected information to the control unit;

the control unit is respectively connected with the functional component and drive unit, and the drive unit is connected with the walking unit, the drive unit is configured to receive the instruction from the control unit and drive the walking unit to walk according to the predetermined route, and the functional component is configured to receive the instruction of control unit, so as to make floor treatment according to the predetermined working mode;

characterized in the following;

the control unit is designed to control the functional component and driving unit to operate according to the method of claim 1.

13. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 12, characterized in the following:

the autonomous moving floor-treating robot also comprises a striking plate at the end in the walking direction of robot, and a angle recognition sensor configured to determine the basic angle is provided on the striking plate.

14. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 13, characterized in the following:

a plurality of angle recognition sensors are respectively located on both the left and right sides of the striking plate.

15. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 14, characterized in the following:

the angle recognition sensors on both sides present axial symmetrical distribution with the walking direction of robot as the axial line.

16. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 13, characterized in the following:

the angle recognition sensor is ultrasonic sensor, proximity sensors or infrared sensor.

17. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 12, characterized in the following:

the side-looking sensor on the side of the robot is an infrared sensor.

18. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 12, characterized in the following:

the autonomous moving floor-treating robot also comprises a timer configured to keep the preset operating time of the robot.

19. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 12, characterized in the following:

the autonomous moving floor-treating robot also comprises an operation panel, and the operation panel also comprises parameter setting keys.

20. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 12, characterized in the following:

the functional component comprises a cleaning component, a waxing component, a polishing component, or any combination thereof.

21. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 14, characterized in the following:

the angle recognition sensor is ultrasonic sensor, proximity sensors or infrared sensor.

22. The autonomous moving floor-treating robot of claim 15, characterized in the following:

the angle recognition sensor is ultrasonic sensor, proximity sensors or infrared sensor.