Autonomous floor-cleaning robot

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10420447-B2
Application number	US-201715487680-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2017
Priority date	Jan 24, 2001
Publication date	Sep 24, 2019
Grant date	Sep 24, 2019

Abstract

An autonomous floor-cleaning robot comprising a housing infrastructure including a chassis, a power subsystem; for providing the energy to power the autonomous floor-cleaning robot, a motive subsystem operative to propel the autonomous floor-cleaning robot for cleaning operations, a command and control subsystem operative to control the autonomous floor-cleaning robot to effect cleaning operations, and a self-adjusting cleaning head subsystem that includes a deck mounted in pivotal combination with the chassis, a brush assembly mounted in combination with the deck and powered by the motive subsystem to sweep up particulates during cleaning operations, a vacuum assembly disposed in combination with the deck and powered by the motive subsystem to ingest particulates during cleaning operations, and a deck adjusting subassembly mounted in combination with the motive subsystem for the brush assembly, the deck, and the chassis that is automatically operative in response to an increase in brush torque in said brush assembly to pivot the deck with respect to said chassis. The autonomous floor-cleaning robot also includes a side brush assembly mounted in combination with the chassis and powered by the motive subsystem to entrain particulates outside the periphery of the housing infrastructure and to direct such particulates towards the self-adjusting cleaning head subsystem.

First claim

We claim:

1. A floor-cleaning robot comprising:
a housing having a substantially round perimeter;
motors operably connected to wheels to move the floor-cleaning robot across a floor surface;
a spring biased displaceable bumper configured for displacement with respect to the housing responsive to obstacles encountered by the floor-cleaning robot;
a sensor responsive to displacement of the spring biased displaceable bumper;
a controller in electrical communication with both the sensor and the motors and configured to control the motors to maneuver the robot to travel away from the encountered obstacles across the floor surface during a floor-cleaning operation;
a vacuum assembly;
a driven cleaning brush, rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to an underside of the housing, the driven cleaning brush being positioned to brush the floor surface as the floor-cleaning robot is moved across the floor surface to brush surface debris towards the vacuum assembly;
a first cliff detector that detects a falling edge of the floor surface, the first cliff detector being located on a side of the floor-cleaning robot forward of the wheels; and
a driven side brush, comprising:
a hub;
a plurality of resilient brush arms extending outwardly from the hub; and
bristles at a distal end of each brush arm of the plurality of resilient brush arms, a portion of the driven side brush extending beyond the substantially round perimeter and positioned to brush floor surface debris from beyond the substantially round perimeter toward a projected path of the driven cleaning brush;

wherein the first cliff detector is located on the same side as the driven side brush, behind the driven side brush, and forward of the wheels.

2. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 1 ,
wherein the first cliff detector is located on a right side of the floor-cleaning robot forward of the wheels; and
the floor-cleaning robot further comprises a second cliff detector that detects a falling edge of the floor surface, the second cliff detector being located on a left side of the floor-cleaning robot forward of the wheels,
wherein the wheels comprise a left wheel and a right wheel, and at least a portion of the driven cleaning brush is positioned between the left wheel and the right wheel.

3. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 2 , further comprising:
a nose-wheel subassembly adjacent to a forward edge of the housing; and
a third cliff detector proximate to the nose-wheel subassembly.

4. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to move the robot in a wall-following mode to maneuver the robot along a wall in a direction that places the driven side brush against the wall.

5. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to operate the floor-cleaning robot in any of a plurality of modes, the plurality of modes comprising: a spot-coverage mode whereby the floor-cleaning robot provides coverage of a spot on the floor, an obstacle following mode whereby the floor-cleaning robot travels adjacent to an obstacle, and a bounce mode whereby the floor-cleaning robot travels substantially in a direction away from an obstacle after detecting an obstacle.

6. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 1 , further comprising a removable dust cartridge positioned to receive and collect particulates including the floor surface debris.

7. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 1 , further comprising a first resilient blade extending from the underside of the housing rearward of the driven cleaning brush and having a distal edge configured to wipe the floor surface.

8. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the driven side brush is configured to rotate about an axis substantially perpendicular to the floor surface.

9. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 1 in which the wheels comprise a left wheel and a right wheel, and at least a portion of the driven cleaning brush is positioned between the left wheel and the right wheel.

10. A floor-cleaning robot comprising:
a housing having a substantially round perimeter;
motors operably connected to wheels to move the floor-cleaning robot across a floor surface;
a spring biased displaceable bumper configured for displacement with respect to the housing responsive to obstacles encountered by the floor-cleaning robot;
a sensor responsive to displacement of the spring biased displaceable bumper;
a controller in electrical communication with both the sensor and the motors and configured to control the motors to maneuver the robot to travel away from the encountered obstacles across the floor surface during a floor-cleaning operation;
a vacuum assembly;
a driven cleaning brush, rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to an underside of the housing, the driven cleaning brush being positioned to brush the floor surface as the floor-cleaning robot is moved across the floor surface to brush surface debris towards the vacuum assembly;
a first cliff detector that detects a falling edge of the floor surface, the first cliff detector being located on a side of the floor-cleaning robot forward of the wheels; and
a driven side brush, comprising:
a hub; and
bristles coupled to the hub and extending beyond the perimeter and positioned to brush floor surface debris from beyond the perimeter toward a projected path of the driven cleaning brush along the floor surface;

wherein the first cliff detector is located on the same side as the driven side brush, behind the driven side brush, and forward of the wheels.

11. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 10 ,
wherein the first cliff detector is located on a right side of the floor-cleaning robot forward of the wheels; and
the floor-cleaning robot further comprises a second cliff detector configured to detect a falling edge of the floor surface, the second cliff detector being located on a left side of the floor-cleaning robot forward of the wheels,
wherein the wheels comprise a left wheel and a right wheel, and at least a portion of the driven cleaning brush is positioned between the left wheel and the right wheel.

12. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 11 , further comprising:
a nose-wheel subassembly adjacent to a forward edge of the housing; and
third cliff detector proximate to the nose-wheel subassembly.

13. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to move the floor-cleaning robot in a wall-following mode to maneuver the floor-cleaning robot along a wall in a direction that places the driven side brush against the wall.

14. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to operate the floor-cleaning robot in any of a plurality of modes, the plurality of modes comprising: a spot-coverage mode whereby the floor-cleaning robot provides coverage of a spot on the floor, an obstacle following mode whereby the floor-cleaning robot travels adjacent to an obstacle, and a bounce mode whereby the floor-cleaning robot travels substantially in a direction away from an obstacle after detecting an obstacle.

15. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 10 , wherein the driven side brush further comprises resilient brush arms extending outwardly from the hub, wherein the bristles comprise multiple sets of bristles connected to a distal end of each brush arm.

16. The floor-cleaning robot of claim 10 in which the wheels comprise a left wheel and a right wheel, and at least a portion of the driven cleaning brush is positioned between the left wheel and the right wheel.

17. A self-propelled floor-cleaning robot comprising a housing defining a

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

• Jones Joseph L
• Mack Newton E
• Nugent David M
• Sandin Paul E

Classifications

• A47L5/34

  with height adjustment of nozzles or dust-loosening tools · CPC title

• A47L2201/00

  Robotic cleaning machines, i.e. with automatic control of the travelling movement or the cleaning operation · CPC title

• A47L7/02

  with driven tools for special purposes (with floor-polishing tools A47L11/20) · CPC title

• A47L9/0411

  driven by electric motor · CPC title

• A47L9/2894

  Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners · CPC title