Moving robot and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10427291-B2
Application number	US-201916238796-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 3, 2019
Priority date	Feb 22, 2016
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

A moving robot includes a main body, a drive assembly moving the main body, and a cleaner head performing cleaning on a cleaning area in which the main body is positioned, wherein the drive assembly includes a plurality of pulleys, a motor connected to any one of the plurality of pulleys and generating a driving force, a belt rotated in contact with the plurality of pulleys, and a support shaft connected to some of the plurality of pulleys and changing a position of the pulley such that an area in which the belt is in contact with a ground or an obstacle is maintained to be equal to or greater than a reference area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A moving robot performing automatic traveling, the moving robot comprising:
a main body;
a drive assembly moving the main body;
a sensor provided in the main body and configured to sense information related to a surface area or an obstacle;
a controller configured to control the drive assembly on the basis of the information sensed by the sensor; and
a cleaner head to clean the surface area,
wherein the drive assembly includes:
a plurality of pulleys;
a motor connected to any one of the plurality of pulleys and generating a driving force;
a belt in contact with and configured to rotate along the plurality of pulleys; and
a support shaft connected to at least two of the plurality of pulleys and configured to change a position of the at least two of the plurality of pulleys such that an area in which the belt is in contact with the surface area or the obstacle is equal to or greater than a reference area, and when the area in which the belt is in contact with the surface area or the obstacle is equal to or greater than the reference area, the main body passes along the surface area or over the obstacle to prevent slippage between the belt and the surface area or the obstacle,

wherein, in response to an external force applied to the drive assembly, at least one of a length of the support shaft, a position of the support shaft, and an angle between the support shaft and the main body is changed.

2. The moving robot of claim 1 ,
wherein the support shaft changes a position of the at least two of the plurality of pulleys in response to the external force, independently of the controller.

3. The moving robot of claim 2 , wherein the support shaft is formed of an elastic material, and a length of the support shaft is changed according to a change in the external force.

4. The moving robot of claim 2 , wherein a first point of the support shaft is fixed to the main body, and the support shaft is installed to be rotatable on the basis of the first point according to a change in the external force.

5. The moving robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller changes at least one of a length of the support shaft, a position of the support shaft, and an angle between the support shaft and the main body on the basis of the information sensed by the sensor.

6. The moving robot of claim 5 , wherein the information sensed by the sensor includes information related to at least one of a height, a surface, and a shape of the obstacle positioned in a moving direction of the main body.

7. The moving robot of claim 6 , wherein the sensor senses information related to tension of the belt, and the controller controls the drive assembly to maintain tension of the belt to be equal to or greater than a reference tension on the basis of the information sensed by the sensor.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kim Hwang
• Park Sungil
• Kim Soohyun
• Yoon Byungho
• Han Sanghoon
• Jeon Youngjun

Classifications

• B25J11/0085

  Cleaning · CPC title

• Y10S901/01

  Mobile robot · CPC title

• B62D55/075

  Tracked vehicles for ascending or descending stairs, {steep slopes or vertical surfaces}(magnetic or pneumatic ground-engaging parts B62D55/265; chairs or multi-track cycles specially adapted for invalids A61G5/00) · CPC title

• B25J5/005 Primary

  mounted on endless tracks or belts · CPC title

• B62D57/024

  specially adapted for moving on inclined or vertical surfaces (endless-track vehicles for ascending or descending stairs B62D55/075; hand-carts with provision for travelling up or down stairs B62B5/02) · CPC title