Scheduling and control system for autonomous robots

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11638510-B2
Application number	US-202017107758-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2020
Priority date	Jun 2, 2017
Publication date	May 2, 2023
Grant date	May 2, 2023

Abstract

An autonomous cleaning robot including a drive configured to move the cleaning robot across a floor surface in an area to be cleaned and a controller. The controller is configured to receive data representing an editable mission timeline including data representing a sequence of rooms to be cleaned, navigate the cleaning robot to clean the rooms following the sequence, track operational events occurring in each of the rooms, and transmit data about time spent navigating each room included in the sequence.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for causing a computing system to:
present, on a user interface of a mobile device, a first room label in a first position of a list of room labels and a second room label in a second position of the list of room labels, wherein the list of room labels represents a list of rooms to be cleaned by a mobile cleaning robot during execution of a single cleaning mission, wherein one or more attributes of the list of room labels is representative of a status of the single cleaning mission, and wherein the position of each of the first room label and the second room label on the list of room labels is adjustable by a user of the mobile device;
send, to the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the first room label, the second room label, and the position of each of the first room label and the second room label on the list of room labels, wherein the relative position of the first room label and the second room label on the list determines an order for cleaning a first room associated with the first room label and a second room associated with the second room label during the single cleaning mission executed by the mobile cleaning robot;
change a presentation of the first room label after the first room has been cleaned by the mobile cleaning robot; and
change a presentation of the second room label after the second room has been cleaned by the mobile cleaning robot.

2. A method comprising:
presenting, on a user interface of a mobile device, a first room label in a first position of a list of room labels and a second room label in a second position of the list of room labels, wherein the list of room labels represents a list of rooms to be cleaned by a mobile cleaning robot during execution of a single cleaning mission, wherein one or more attributes of the list of room labels is representative of a status of the single cleaning mission, and wherein the position of each of the first room label and the second room label on the list of room labels is adjustable by a user of the mobile device;
sending, to the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the first room label, the second room label, and the position of each of the first room label and the second room label on the list of room labels, wherein the relative position of the first room label and the second room label on the list determines an order for cleaning a first room associated with the first room label and a second room associated with the second room label during the single cleaning mission executed by the mobile cleaning robot;
changing a presentation of the first room label after the first room has been cleaned by the mobile cleaning robot; and
changing a presentation of the second room label after the second room has been cleaned by the mobile cleaning robot.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising receiving data indicative of a time to complete cleaning of each of the first room and the second room.

4. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
presenting, on the user interface of the mobile device, the first room label in an updated position on the list of room labels responsive to receipt of user input; and
sending, to the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the updated position of the first room label.

5. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
removing the first room label from the presentation on the user interface of the mobile device responsive to receipt of user input indicating a cancellation of a cleaning of the first room; and
sending, to the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the cancellation of the cleaning of the first room.

6. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
presenting, on the user interface, a representation of an operational event of the single cleaning mission; and
receiving, from the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the operational event of the single cleaning mission,
wherein the representation of the operational event comprises a representation of a location where the mobile cleaning robot performed additional cleaning in response to detected debris.

7. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
presenting, on the user interface, a representation of an operational event of the single cleaning mission; and
receiving, from the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the operational event of the single cleaning mission,
wherein the representation of the operational event comprises a representation of a completion of the mobile cleaning robot cleaning one of the first room or the second room.

8. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
presenting, on the user interface, a representation of an operational event of the single cleaning mission; and
receiving, from the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the operational event of the single cleaning mission,
wherein the representation of the operational event comprises a representation of a time of a bin emptying event.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising presenting the representation of the time of the bin emptying event in the list of room labels.

10. The method of claim 2 , comprising sending, to the mobile cleaning robot, a set of cleaning parameters to be used in each of the first room and the second room, each set of cleaning parameters including at least one of a vacuum power, an edge cleaning setting, a multiple pass setting, and a wet or dry mopping parameter.

11. The method of claim 2 , comprising determining, based on a charge level of a battery of the mobile cleaning robot, a charging period for charging the battery to allow the mobile cleaning robot to complete cleaning the rooms on the list of rooms.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising sending a charging instruction indicative of the charging period to the mobile cleaning robot.

13. The method of claim 11 , comprising receiving, from the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of an elapsed charging time when the mobile cleaning robot is at a charging station.

14. The method of claim 13 , comprising presenting a representation of the elapsed time on the user interface.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing system to:
present, on the user interface of the mobile device, a first indication representing a time to complete cleaning of the first room and a second indication representing a time to complete cleaning of the second room.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing system to:
present, on the user interface of the mobile device, the first room label in an updated position on the list of room labels responsive to receipt of user input; and
send, to the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the updated position of the first room label.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing system to:
remove the first room label from the presentation on the user interface of the mobile device responsive to receipt of user input indicating a cancellation of a cleaning of the first room; and
send, to the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the cancellation of the cleaning of the first room.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing system to:
present, on the user interface, a representation of an operational event of the single cleaning mission; and
receive, from the mobile cleaning robot, data indicative of the operational event of the single cleaning mission,
wherein the repre

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

• Schriesheim Benjamin H
• White Cory
• Hild Brent

Classifications

• G05D1/223

  Command input arrangements on the remote controller, e.g. joysticks or touch screens · CPC title

• G05D1/225

  operated by off-board computers · CPC title

• A47L9/2857 Primary

  User input or output elements for control, e.g. buttons, switches or displays · CPC title

• A47L9/2852

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

• A47L2201/04

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