Robotic mowing of separated lawn areas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10159180-B2
Application number	US-201715794603-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 26, 2017
Priority date	Dec 22, 2014
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

A method of mowing multiple areas includes training a robotic mower to mow at least two areas separated by a space, including moving the robotic mower about the areas while storing data indicative of location of boundaries of each area relative to boundary markers, training the robotic mower to move across the space separating the areas, and initiating a mowing operation. Training the robotic mower to move across the space separating the areas includes moving the robotic mower to a traversal launch point of a first of the areas and moving the robotic mower to a traversal landing point of a second of the areas. The mowing operation causes the robotic mower to move to the traversal launch point, move from the traversal launch point across the space to the traversal landing point, and then mow the second of the areas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
initiating a training mode of an autonomous lawnmower robot; and
presenting, on a user interface of a user computing device,
a map indicative of a first mowable area, a second mowable area, and a space between the first mowable area and the second mowable area,
a representation of a route through the space along which the robot is navigated without mowing during a mowing operation to mow at least one of the first mowable area or the second mowable area,
a representation of a boundary of the first mowable area navigated by the robot in the training mode, and
a representation of a boundary of the second mowable area navigated by the robot in the training mode.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting the representation of the route comprises presenting a representation of a launch point defining a start of the route along the boundary of the first mowable area and a representation of a landing point defining an end of the route along the boundary of the second mowable area.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the user computing device to the robot, a user-selected schedule such that the robot mows at least one of the first mowable area or the second mowable area in accordance with the user-selected schedule.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein transmitting the schedule comprises transmitting instructions to cause the robot to mow the first mowable area at a first time and to mow the second mowable area at a second time.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the map comprises imagery representing the first mowable area and the second mowable area.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising identifying, by the user computing device, data indicative of the boundary of the first mowable area and indicative of the boundary of the second mowable area from the imagery.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the route is a first route, and the method further comprises presenting, on the user interface of the user computing device, a representation of a second route through the first mowable area navigated by the robot in the training mode.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting, on the user interface of the user computing device, an indicator of a current location of the robot on the map.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting, on the user interface of the user computing device, an indicator of a location of a charging dock configured to charge a battery of the robot on the map.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising wirelessly transmitting, from the user computing device to the robot, an instruction to cause the robot to initiate the mowing operation in which the robot
disables a mowing function,
subsequent to disabling the mowing function, navigates through the space and to the second mowable area by following the route, and
subsequent to navigating to the second mowable area, activates the mowing function to mow the second mowable area.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the robot autonomously mows the first mowable area before disabling the mowing function.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the route further extends through the first mowable area, and the robot autonomously navigates along the route through the first mowable area and through the space by following the route.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, from the user computing device to the robot, data indicative of a user selection of the route through the space.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the user selection of the route overrides an automatically selected route through the space.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, from the user computing device to the robot, data indicative of a plurality of user-selected points defining at least a start of the route and an end of the route.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, during the training mode, wirelessly transmitting, from the user computing device to the robot, an instruction to store a current position of the robot defining a point along the route, along the boundary of the first mowable area, or along the boundary of the second mowable area.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, from the user computing device to the robot, a selection of a movement pattern to cover the first mowable area or a selection of a movement pattern to cover the second mowable area.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the user computing device from the robot, data indicative of the boundary of the first mowable area, data indicative of the boundary of the second mowable area, and data indicative of the route,
wherein the representations of the route, the boundary of the first mowable area, and the boundary of the second mowable area are presented based on the data indicative of the boundary of the first mowable area, the data indicative of the boundary of the second mowable area, and the data indicative of the route.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising, during the training mode, transmitting instructions to cause the robot to store the data indicative of the boundary of the first mowable area, the data indicative of the boundary of the second mowable area, and the data indicative of the route in the training mode.

20. A system comprising:
a computing device comprising:
a user interface;
a memory configured to store instructions; and
a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising:
initiating a training mode of an autonomous lawnmower robot; and
presenting, on the user interface,
a map indicative of a first mowable area, a second mowable area, and a space between the first mowable area and the second mowable area,
a representation of a route through the space along which the robot is navigated without mowing during a mowing operation to mow at least one of the first mowable area or the second mowable area,
a representation of a boundary of the first mowable area navigated by the robot in the training mode, and
a representation of a boundary of the second mowable area navigated by the robot in the training mode.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the computing device is a smartphone, a pair of smart glasses, or a smart watch.

22. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions that are executable by a processing device, and upon such execution cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
initiating a training mode of an autonomous lawnmower robot; and
presenting, on a user interface of a user computing device,
a map indicative of a first mowable area, a second mowable area, and a space between the first mowable area and the second mowable area,
a representation of a route through the space along which the robot is navigated without mowing during a mowing operation to mow at least one of the first mowable area or the second mowable area,
a representation of a boundary of the first mowable area navigated by the robot in the training mode, and
a representation of a boundary of the second mowable area navigated by the robot in the training mode.

23. The system of claim 20 , wherein presenting the representation of the route comprises presenting a representation of a launch point defining a start of the route along the boundary of the first mowable area and a representation of a landing point defining an end of the route along the boundary of

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

• Balutis Paul C
• Beaulieu Andrew
• Yamauchi Brian

Classifications

• B25J9/0081

  with leader teach-in means · CPC title

• A01D2101/00

  Lawn-mowers · CPC title

• A01D34/008 Primary

  for automated or remotely controlled operation · CPC title

• B25J5/007

  mounted on wheels · CPC title

• Y10S901/01

  Mobile robot · CPC title