Wall following robot

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10537221-B2
Application number	US-201815890496-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2018
Priority date	Apr 9, 2015
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

An example robot includes a body that is movable relative to a surface, a bumper mounted on the body to enable movement of the bumper relative to the body, a sensor to produce a signal in response to the movement of the bumper relative to the body caused by contact between the bumper and the surface, and a controller to control movement of the body to cause the body to track the surface based on a value. The bumper is movable between an uncompressed position relative to the body and a compressed position relative to the body. The signal varies linearly with the movement of the bumper relative to the body. The value is based on the signal and indicates that the bumper in a partially compressed position has a compression range between the uncompressed position and the compressed position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile cleaning robot comprising: a drive system to move the robot across a floor surface and relative to a wall surface; a bumper movable between a fully uncompressed position and a fully compressed position; a pad holder on a bottom portion of the robot; the pad holder configured to receive a cleaning pad extending beyond right and left sides of the robot and facing the floor surface; and a controller configured to advance the robot, in a wall following behavior, along the wall surface while maintaining contact between a portion of the cleaning pad and the wall surface, while maintaining a position of the bumper within a range between the fully uncompressed position and the fully compressed position, and while maintaining a non-zero angle between the right side or the left side of the robot and the wall surface.

2. The robot of claim 1 , wherein configurations of the controller to advance the robot along the wall surface comprise configurations to adjust rotational and translational speeds of the robot to maintain the contact between the portion of the cleaning pad and the wall surface.

3. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the non-zero angle between the right side or the left side of the robot and the wall surface is between about 1 degree and about 20 degrees.

4. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the non-zero angle between the right side or the left side of the robot and the wall surface is between about 5 degrees and about 10 degrees.

5. The robot of claim 1 , further comprising a movable bumper defining a portion of the right side and a portion of the left side of the robot, the bumper configured to contact the wall surface and be in a partially compressed position in the range when the controller advances the robot along the wall surface in the wall following behavior.

6. The robot of claim 5 , further comprising a sensor comprising a first portion mounted to the bumper and a second portion mounted to a body of the robot on which the bumper is mounted, the sensor being configured to produce a signal indicative of the non-zero angle between the right side or the left side of the robot and the wall surface.

7. The robot of claim 5 , wherein the bumper is configured to be rotated relative to a body of the robot on which the bumper is mounted while the controller advances the robot along the wall surface in the wall following behavior.

8. The robot of claim 1 , wherein configurations of the controller to advance the robot along the wall surface while maintaining the non-zero angle between the right side or the left side of the robot and the wall surface comprises configurations to maintain a non-zero angle between a forward drive direction of the robot and the wall surface.

9. The robot of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor configured to produce a signal indicative of the non-zero angle between the right side or the left side of the robot and the wall surface, the sensor selected from the group consisting of a capacitive sensor, a Hall Effect sensor, and an inductive sensor.

10. The robot of claim 9 , wherein the sensor is located adjacent to the right side of the robot or the left side of the robot.

11. The robot of claim 1 , further comprising a detector associated with a wheel of the robot, the detector being configured to detect a speed of the wheel,
wherein configurations of the controller to advance the robot along the wall surface comprise configurations to adjust a translational speed of the robot based on the detected speed of the wheel.

12. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the robot to perform an area coverage behavior to cover an interior region of a room within an outer perimeter of the room, and
configurations of the controller to advance the robot along the wall surface in the wall following behavior comprise configurations to advance the robot along the outer perimeter of the room after the area coverage behavior is performed.

13. The robot of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to navigate the robot to an untraversed portion of the interior region of the room after advancing the robot along the outer perimeter of the room.

14. A method of controlling a mobile cleaning robot, comprising:
advancing the robot, in a wall following behavior, along a wall surface; and
maintaining contact between a portion of a cleaning pad of the robot and the wall surface while advancing the robot along the wall surface in the wall following behavior, while maintaining a position of a bumper of the robot within a range between a fully uncompressed position and a fully compressed position, and while maintaining a non-zero angle between the robot and the wall surface.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein maintaining contact between the portion of the cleaning pad and the wall surface comprises adjusting rotational and translational speeds of the robot to maintain the contact between the portion of the cleaning pad and the wall surface.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the non-zero angle between the robot and the wall surface is between about 1 degree and about 20 degrees.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the non-zero angle between the robot and the wall surface is between about 5 degrees and about 10 degrees.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein maintaining a non-zero angle between the robot and the wall surface comprises maintaining a movable bumper of the robot in a partially compressed position in the range while advancing the robot along the wall surface in the wall following behavior.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein maintaining the non-zero angle between the robot and the wall surface comprises maintaining a non-zero angle between a forward drive direction of the robot and the wall surface.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein maintaining the non-zero angle between the robot and the wall surface comprises adjusting a translational speed of the robot based on detecting a speed of a wheel of the robot.

21. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
navigating the robot along a portion of an interior region of a room within an outer perimeter of the room before advancing the robot along the wall surface in the wall following behavior, and
navigating the robot to an untraversed portion of the interior region of the room after advancing the robot along the wall surface in the wall following behavior.

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

• Wolfe Brian
• Lu Ping-Hong

Classifications

• A47L9/00

  Details or accessories of suction cleaners, e.g. mechanical means for controlling the suction or for effecting pulsating action; Storing devices specially adapted to suction cleaners or parts thereof; Carrying-vehicles specially adapted for suction cleaners · CPC title

• A47L11/4011 Primary

  Regulation of the cleaning machine by electric means; Control systems and remote control systems therefor · CPC title

• A47L2201/04

  Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection · CPC title

• A47L9/2805

  Parameters or conditions being sensed · CPC title

• A47L2201/00

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