Autonomous floor cleaning with a removable pad

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11324376-B2
Application number	US-201916664065-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2019
Priority date	Mar 16, 2015
Publication date	May 10, 2022
Grant date	May 10, 2022

Abstract

An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a robot body defining a forward drive direction, a controller supported by the robot body, a drive supporting the robot body and configured to maneuver the robot across a surface in response to commands from the controller, a pad holder disposed on an underside of the robot body and configured to retain a removable cleaning pad during operation of the cleaning robot; and a pad sensor arranged to sense a feature of a cleaning pad held by the pad holder and generate a corresponding signal. The controller is responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, and configured to control the robot according to a cleaning mode selected from a set of multiple robot cleaning modes as a function of the signal generated by the pad sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cleaning robot comprising:
a drive to maneuver the cleaning robot across a floor surface of a room in a forward drive direction;
a fluid applicator to apply fluid to the floor surface;
a pad sensor arranged to sense an identification feature on a cleaning pad held by the cleaning robot and configured to generate a signal indicative of a pad type of the cleaning pad based on the identification feature; and
a controller responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, the controller being configured to control the cleaning robot in a cleaning operation as a function of the pad type of the cleaning pad such that,
in a first behavior, the cleaning robot advances in the forward drive direction to follow an edge while the fluid applicator applies fluid to the floor surface according to a first schedule, and,
in a second behavior, the cleaning robot moves back and forth and advances in the forward drive direction while the fluid applicator applies fluid to the floor surface according to a second schedule.

2. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the pad type indicated by the signal is one of a wet mopping pad type or a damp mopping pad type, wherein the controller is configured to operate the fluid applicator to
apply fluid according to a schedule that provides a fluid application frequency or a fluid application duration for the wet mopping pad type if the pad type is the wet mopping pad type, and
apply fluid according to a schedule that provides a fluid application frequency or a fluid application duration for the damp mopping pad type if the pad type is the damp mopping pad type, the fluid application frequency for the damp mopping pad type being less than the fluid application frequency of the wet mopping pad type, and the fluid application duration for the damp mopping pad type being less than the fluid application duration of the wet mopping pad type.

3. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the fluid applicator includes a spraying mechanism configured to spray fluid onto a portion of the floor surface in front of the cleaning robot.

4. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to initiate the first behavior when the cleaning robot encounters an obstacle defining the edge during the second behavior.

5. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , further comprising a bumper for detecting contact between the cleaning robot and an obstacle, wherein the controller is configured to initiate the first behavior in response to detection of contact between the cleaning robot and the obstacle by the bumper.

6. The cleaning robot of claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to initiate the second behavior when the cleaning robot moves about an entire perimeter of the obstacle during the first behavior.

7. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to operate the fluid applicator, in both the first behavior and the second behavior, to apply fluid to the floor surface according to an aggregate number of sprays of fluid applied during the cleaning operation.

8. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to alternate between the first behavior and the second behavior during the cleaning operation.

9. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the pad sensor comprises at least one optical emitter, and the identification feature is an ink disposed on a surface of the cleaning pad.

10. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the identification feature comprises a plurality of identification elements, each identification element having a first region and a second region, and wherein the pad sensor is arranged to independently sense a reflectivity of the first region and a reflectivity of the second region.

11. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the cleaning robot such that, in the second behavior, the cleaning robot moves back and forth along an arcuate trajectory while incrementally advancing in the forward drive direction.

12. The cleaning robot of claim 11 , wherein the cleaning robot incrementally advances in the forward drive direction by repeating a series of movements comprising:
advancing a fixed distance along the forward drive direction and then retreating to an original position;
advancing a fixed distance along a first arcuate trajectory deviating from the forward drive direction in one of a left direction and a right direction and then retreating to the original position;
advancing a fixed distance along a second arcuate trajectory deviating from the forward drive direction in the other of the left direction and the right direction and then retreating to the original position; and
advancing a fixed distance along the forward drive direction.

13. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein the second schedule includes a first earlier period having a fluid application frequency and a fluid application duration and a second later period having a lesser fluid application frequency or a lesser fluid application duration.

14. The cleaning robot of claim 13 , wherein the controller is configured to initiate application of fluid according to the second period of the second schedule when
(i) the cleaning robot has traveled a predefined distance while applying fluid according to the first period of the first schedule, or
(ii) the cleaning robot has applied a predefined quantity of fluid sprays according to the first period of the first schedule.

15. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein, in the first behavior, the cleaning robot advances along the edge while pushing the cleaning pad held by the cleaning robot against the edge.

16. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein, in the second behavior, the cleaning robot moves in a series of generally parallel rows across the room.

17. The cleaning robot of claim 1 , further comprising a pad holder comprising a releasable retention clip configured to hold the cleaning pad and configured to release the cleaning pad in response to activation of a release mechanism.

18. A method comprising:
detecting, by a cleaning robot, a pad identification feature on a cleaning pad held by the cleaning robot, the pad identification feature indicative of a pad type of the cleaning pad;
initiating, by the cleaning robot, a first behavior to advance the cleaning robot in a forward drive direction along a floor surface to follow an edge and to cause the cleaning robot to apply fluid to the floor surface according to a first schedule selected based on the pad type, and
initiating, by the cleaning robot, a second behavior to move the cleaning robot back and forth while the robot advances in the forward drive direction and to cause the cleaning robot to apply fluid to the floor surface according to a second schedule selected based on the pad type.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein initiating the second behavior comprises initiating the second behavior after the cleaning robot moves about an entire perimeter of an obstacle during the first behavior.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the cleaning robot, in the first and second behaviors, applies fluid to the floor surface according to an aggregate number of sprays of fluid applied a cleaning operation.

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

• Lu Ping-Hong
• Foran Dan
• Williams Marcus
• Johnson Joe
• Graziani Andrew

Classifications

• A47L11/4044 Primary

  Vacuuming or pick-up tools; Squeegees · CPC title

• A47L9/2805

  Parameters or conditions being sensed · CPC title

• A47L2201/04

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

• A47L11/4066

  Propulsion of the whole machine · CPC title

• A47L9/0673 Primary

  with removable brushes, combs, lips or pads · CPC title