Robot cleaner and method of controlling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10993598-B2
Application number	US-201716333124-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 14, 2017
Priority date	Jul 14, 2016
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

A robot cleaner includes a rolling cleaning module including a rolling member configured to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise when viewed from a left side while in contact with a floor, a sensor unit, and a controller configured to detect a change in position of the robot cleaner and a change in load current of a motor connected to the rolling member based on data detected by the sensor unit. When there is a change in position and a change in load current, a specific area of a floor is determined to be a contaminated area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A robot cleaner comprising:
a rolling cleaning module including a rolling member configured to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise when viewed from a left side of the robot cleaner while in contact with a floor;
a sensor unit including a plurality of sensors;
a controller configured to detect a change in position of the robot cleaner and a change in load current of a motor connected to the rolling member based on data detected by the sensor unit and to, upon detecting the change in position and the change in load current, determine a specific area of the floor to be a contaminated area; and
a spin module including left and right spin mops configured to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise when viewed from above while being in contact with the floor,
wherein the controller is configured to determine a direction of the contaminated area based on a change in load current of motors connected to the left and right spin mops.

2. The robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that the change in position is caused by an external force when it is determined that there is the change in position without the change in load current of the motor connected to the rolling member.

3. The robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that a kind of the floor is changed when it is determined that there is the change in load current of the motor connected to the rolling member without the change in position.

4. The robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that there is the change in position when a value of position information detected by the sensor unit is higher than a first upper-limit reference value or lower than a first lower-limit reference value, and to determine that there is the change in load current of the motor connected to the rolling member when a value of the load current of the motor connected to the rolling member is higher than a second upper-limit reference value or lower than a second lower-limit reference value.

5. The robot cleaner according to claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the contaminated area to be a sticky contaminated area when the value of the load current of the motor connected to the rolling member increases to be higher than the second upper-limit reference value, and to determine the contaminated area to be a slippery contaminated area when the value of the load current of the motor connected to the rolling member decreases to be lower than the second lower-limit reference value.

6. The robot cleaner according to claim 4 , wherein the second upper-limit reference value and the second lower-limit reference value are set to be different according to a kind of the floor.

7. The robot cleaner according to claim 4 , wherein the value of position information is a heading angle.

8. The robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to detect a change in speed of the robot cleaner attributable to a pollutant by comparing an actual moving distance of the robot cleaner with a moving distance estimated by an acceleration sensor.

9. The robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a kind of a pollutant on the contaminated area based on a direction in which a value of the load current of the motor connected to the rolling member changes.

10. The robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the robot cleaner to perform a skirting traveling operation so as to skirt the contaminated area or to perform an intensive cleaning operation on the contaminated area.

11. The robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit includes one or more cliff sensors each having a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element, and
wherein the controller is configured to determine a material of the floor based on an amount of light emitted from the light-emitting element, that is reflected by the floor and received into the light-receiving element.

12. The robot cleaner according to claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the floor to be a hard floor when an amount of the reflected light is higher than a predetermined reference value, and to determine the floor to be a carpet when the amount of the reflected light is lower than the predetermined reference value.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Park Jeongseop
• Jang Jaewon
• Kim Donghoon

Classifications

• A47L2201/00

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

• G05D2111/50

  Internal signals, i.e. from sensors located in the vehicle, e.g. from compasses or angular sensors · CPC title

• G05D1/245

  using dead reckoning · CPC title

• G05D2111/52

  generated by inertial navigation means, e.g. gyroscopes or accelerometers · CPC title

• G05D1/6486

  by taking into account surface condition, e.g. soiled · CPC title