Autonomous floor cleaner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11465293-B2
Application number	US-201916527591-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2019
Priority date	Jul 31, 2018
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

An autonomous floor cleaner, such as a robotic vacuum cleaner, includes an autonomously moveable housing carrying a vacuum collection system for generating a working air flow for removing dirt from the surface to be cleaned and storing the dirt in a collection space. A bumper is provided on the housing and provides obstacle sensing redundancy. The bumper can be provided with a cliff sensor actuator member that activates an associated cliff sensor upon an impact or obstacle event.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous surface cleaner, comprising:
an autonomously moveable housing defining an outer periphery;
a collection system carried by the autonomously moveable housing and comprising:
a working air path through the housing having an air inlet and an air outlet;
a suction nozzle defining the air inlet; and
a suction source in fluid communication with the suction nozzle;
a set of cliff sensors carried by the autonomously moveable housing;
at least one bumper provided on at least a portion of the outer periphery and moveably coupled thereto between a home position and a compressed position that is moved inwardly towards the autonomously moveable housing from the home position; and
at least one controller configured to receive information from the set of cliff sensors and determine based on the received information one of a cliff event indicative of a drop or an impact event indicative of an obstacle.

2. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 1 wherein the set of cliff sensors comprise multiple bottom-facing optical position sensors configured to provide distance feedback and wherein the at least one controller is configured to receive the distance feedback and operate the autonomous surface cleaner based thereon.

3. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 1 , further comprising a cliff sensor actuator member operably coupled to the at least one bumper and wherein the cliff sensor actuator activates at least one cliff sensor of the set of cliff sensors upon an impact event.

4. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 3 wherein the cliff sensor actuator member comprises a projection extending from the bumper on an inwardly-facing side of the bumper that is configured to occlude at least a portion of the at least one cliff sensor of the set of the cliff sensors when the bumper is in the compressed position.

5. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 3 wherein the cliff sensor actuator member at least partially occludes the at least one cliff sensor of the set of cliff sensors when the bumper reaches the compressed position.

6. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 1 , further comprising a set of obstacle sensors provided adjacent the at least one bumper and configured to be actuated by movement of the at least one bumper to the compressed position.

7. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 6 wherein the set of obstacle sensors comprises multiple obstacle sensors provided at a front and at least one side of the autonomously moveable housing.

8. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 6 wherein at least one obstacle sensor of the set of obstacle sensors includes a tactile bump switch module located behind the bumper and wherein movement of the bumper towards the compressed position is configured to actuate the at least one obstacle sensor of the set of obstacle sensors.

9. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 6 wherein the controller determines the cliff event when at least one cliff sensor of the set of cliff sensors is at least partially occluded by the bumper and the set of obstacle sensors are not actuated and the controller determines the impact event when at least one cliff sensor of the set of cliff sensors is at least partially occluded and at least one of the set of obstacle sensors is actuated.

10. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 1 , further comprising a drive system including a set of wheels.

11. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 10 wherein the at least one controller comprises an operational controller communicatively coupled with a main controller and wherein the operational controller receives output from the set of cliff sensors and is configured to communicate to the main controller to operate the drive system based thereon.

12. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 11 wherein when the operational controller determines the impact event based on output from the set of cliff sensors, the operational controller is configured to communicate to the main controller to cease moving toward the obstacle, to turn away from the obstacle, or to operate in reverse.

13. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 1 wherein the outer periphery of the autonomously moveable housing includes a front, a rear, a first side, and a second side.

14. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 13 wherein the autonomously moveable housing has a D-shape when viewed from above, with the front being defined by a straight front edge and the rear being defined by a rounded rear edge and wherein a brushroll is mounted behind the straight front edge.

15. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 14 wherein the housing defines front corners and back corners, and wherein the set of cliff sensors comprise a cliff sensor provided in each of the front corners behind the bumper and in front of the brushroll and a cliff sensor provided in each of the back corners.

16. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 13 wherein the at least one bumper is disposed along an entire front of the autonomously moveable housing and partially along the first side and the second side.

17. The autonomous surface cleaner of claim 16 wherein the bumper is configured to move towards the autonomously moveable housing to the compressed position in response to either a front impact or a side impact.

18. A method for operating an autonomous floor cleaner, the method comprising:
driving an autonomously moveable housing having a moveable bumper provided adjacent at least one cliff sensor; and
determining, via a controller, from an output of the at least one cliff sensor and at least one of: a position of the bumper, input from a dedicated obstacle sensor, an inertial measurement unit, or drive system data whether a cliff event has occurred or an impact event has occurred.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising operating a drive system of the autonomous floor cleaner in response to the determining of the impact event.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the controller upon determining the impact event has occurred is configured to communicate to a second controller, operably coupled to the drive system, to cease moving toward the obstacle, to turn away from the obstacle, or to operate in reverse.

Assignees

• Bissell Inc

Inventors

• Brouwers Andrew James
• Mohan Jake Andrew
• Buehler Eric Daniel

Classifications

• A47L9/2842

  Suction motors or blowers · CPC title

• A47L9/2889 Primary

  Safety or protection devices or systems, e.g. for prevention of motor over-heating or for protection of the user · CPC title

• A47L9/2852

  Elements for displacement of the vacuum cleaner or the accessories therefor, e.g. wheels, casters or nozzles · CPC title

• B25J9/1666

  Avoiding collision or forbidden zones · CPC title

• A47L2201/04

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