Autonomous mower

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11622499-B2
Application number	US-201916719728-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2019
Priority date	Jan 21, 2014
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

An autonomous mower including a housing; a mowing module, a traveling module, an information collection device, an energy module, a control module and the control module includes an identification unit, and an alarm module. The autonomous mower has a security patrol working mode in which the identification unit analyzes and judges whether an abnormal object exists in the working area according to the information collected by the information collection device; if the abnormal object exists, the control module controls the alarm module to send an alarm signal to the outside. Therefore, the autonomous mower can achieve a security patrol function in addition to having a function of trimming the lawn. The autonomous mower has multiple uses, so as to save the cost.

First claim

What claimed is:

1. An autonomous mower which automatically travels and works in a working area, the autonomous mower comprising:
a housing;
a mowing module received in the housing, and performing predetermined mowing work;
a traveling module supporting the housing and driving the autonomous mower to travel in a working area;
an information acquisition device disposed on the housing and used for acquiring external environment information;
an energy module providing energy for the autonomous mower; and a control module connecting and controlling the mowing module, the traveling module, the information acquisition device and the energy module, to achieve automatic traveling and automatic working of the autonomous mower; and
an alarm module for making an alarm,
the control module comprising an identification unit which receives the external environment information acquired by the information acquisition device;
the autonomous mower comprising a security patrol working mode in which the identification unit of the control module analyzes and judges whether an abnormal object exists in the working area according to the external environment information acquired by the information acquisition device and, if an abnormal object exists, the control module controls the alarm module to send an alarm signal to the outside,
further comprising either (a) or (b):
(a) when a parameter related to a working environment satisfies a preset condition, the control module starts the security patrol working mode, or
(b) the control module comprises a path setting unit which is used for setting a patrol route, and the autonomous mower patrols according to the patrol route in the security patrol working mode, wherein the patrol route is different to the mowing path of the mower.

2. The autonomous mower according to claim 1 , the information acquisition device comprises an image acquisition device, and the identification unit analyzes and judges whether an abnormal object exists in the working area according to image information acquired by the image acquisition device.

3. The autonomous mower according to claim 2 , the identification unit identifies whether an abnormal object exists according to the size or contour presented by the object in the image information.

4. The autonomous mower according to claim 2 , the identification unit comprises a face identification program which identifies a face and judges whether the identified face is a strange face, and if the face is identified as a strange face, the identification unit judges whether an abnormal object exists in the working area.

5. The autonomous mower according to claim 2 , the image acquisition device is rotatably fixed onto the housing.

6. The autonomous mower according to claim 5 , the autonomous mower further including a driving device that drives the image acquisition device to make rotational motion, and the control module controls the rotational motion of the image acquisition device through the driving device.

7. The autonomous mower according to claim 1 , the information acquisition device comprises an infrared sensor through which a temperature is detected, and the identification unit judges whether an abnormal object exists in the working area according to whether the temperature is in a predetermined range or not.

8. The autonomous mower according to claim 1 , further comprising a wireless communication module including a Wi-Fi module, a cellular communication module or a Bluetooth module.

9. The autonomous mower according to claim 8 , the alarm module transmits images, texts or audio alarm signals to the outside through the wireless communication module.

10. The autonomous mower according to claim 8 , the autonomous mower receives a control instruction sent by an external device through the wireless communication module, and controls its own work or travel according to the control instruction.

11. The autonomous mower according to claim 2 , wherein the image acquisition device comprises a lens and wherein the autonomous mower comprises a cleaning device for keeping said lens clean.

12. The autonomous mower according to claim 11 , wherein the autonomous mower further comprises a cleaning control unit configured to control said cleaning device to clean said lens automatically according to a preset program, wherein the cleaning control unit is configured to compare a real-time image acquired by said image acquisition device in a preset position with a preset reference image, and when judging that they are different from each other, control said lens cleaning device to perform a cleaning task.

13. The autonomous device according to claim 11 , wherein the autonomous mower further comprises a cleaning control unit, said cleaning control unit is configured to compare a real-time image acquired by said image acquisition device in a preset position with a preset reference image, and when judging that they are different from each other, control said alarm module to make an alarm.

Assignees

• Positec Power Tools Suzhou Co Ltd

Inventors

• Liu Fangshi
• Shao Yong
• Zha Xiahong
• Tian Jiaofeng

Classifications

• B08B1/34

  rotating about an axis parallel to the surface · CPC title

• A01D2101/00

  Lawn-mowers · CPC title

• B08B5/02

  Cleaning by the force of jets, e.g. blowing-out cavities {(airguns or nozzles per se B05B1/005)} · CPC title

• B60L2200/40

  Working vehicles · CPC title

• B60L2250/10

  by alarm · CPC title