Autonomous floor cleaning with a removable pad

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11957286-B2
Application number	US-202217732277-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2022
Priority date	Mar 16, 2015
Publication date	Apr 16, 2024
Grant date	Apr 16, 2024

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 pad comprising:
a mounting surface configured to be mounted to an autonomous cleaning robot when the cleaning pad is received by the autonomous cleaning robot,
a cleaning surface arranged to contact a floor surface when the cleaning pad is received by the autonomous cleaning robot; and
a radiofrequency identification (RFID) identifier unique to a pad type of the cleaning pad selected from multiple different types, the RFID identifier being positioned to be sensed by an autonomous robot to which the cleaning pad is mounted, wherein the RFID identifier is indicative of a navigational behavior of the autonomous cleaning robot.

2. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , wherein the RFID identifier is a radio-frequency identification chip.

3. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , wherein the RFID identifier is indicative of the navigational behavior of the autonomous cleaning robot and a fluid application schedule of the autonomous cleaning robot.

4. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , wherein the RFID identifier is indicative of the navigational behavior of the autonomous robot and a cleaning behavior of the autonomous cleaning robot.

5. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , wherein the RFID identifier is a first pad type RFID identifier, and the cleaning pad further comprises a second pad type RFID identifier rotationally symmetric to the first RFID identifier, the first and the second RFID identifiers both being indicative of the pad type of the cleaning pad.

6. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , further comprising a mounting plate comprising the mounting surface and the RFID identifier.

7. The cleaning pad of claim 6 , wherein the cleaning pad comprises:
a cutout on an edge of the mounting plate, the cutout engageable to a protrusion of a pad holder of the autonomous robot.

8. The cleaning pad of claim 6 , wherein the cleaning pad comprises:
a plurality of cutouts comprising
a first cutout positioned on a first longitudinal edge of the mounting plate and aligned along a longitudinal center axis of the cleaning pad, and
a second cutout positioned on a second longitudinal edge of the mounting plate and aligned along the longitudinal center axis of the cleaning pad.

9. The cleaning pad of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of cutouts comprises a second set of cutouts positioned on one or more lateral edges of the mounting plate and aligned along a lateral center axis of the cleaning pad.

10. The cleaning pad of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of cutouts of the cleaning pad are configured to engage a plurality of protrusions of a pad holder of the autonomous robot to inhibit lateral motion of the cleaning pad relative to the pad holder of the autonomous robot when the cleaning pad is held by the pad holder during operation of the autonomous robot.

11. The cleaning pad of claim 8 , wherein the mounting plate comprises a thickness substantially between 0.5 and 0.8 millimeters.

12. The cleaning pad of claim 6 , wherein the mounting plate has longitudinal edges protruding horizontally beyond the cleaning surface.

13. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , wherein:
the RFID identifier is a first pad type RFID identifier, and the cleaning pad comprises a second pad type RFID identifier, and
the first and second RFID identifiers are oriented such that the first RFID identifier is detectable by a pad sensor of the autonomous robot when the cleaning pad in a first orientation is received by a pad holder of the autonomous robot and such that the second RFID identifier is detectable by the pad sensor of the autonomous robot when the cleaning pad in a second orientation is received by the pad holder of the autonomous robot, the first orientation of the cleaning pad being 180 degrees rotated relative to the second orientation of the cleaning pad.

14. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , further comprising a wrap layer wrapped around absorptive layers that absorb fluid, the wrap layer comprising the cleaning surface, and
the absorptive layers are exposed at a longitudinal end of the cleaning pad.

15. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , wherein the pad type is one of a wet mopping pad type or a damp mopping pad type.

16. The cleaning pad of claim 1 , wherein the RFID identifier is offset from a longitudinal center axis of the cleaning pad and from a lateral center axis of the cleaning pad.

17. 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 radio-frequency reader arranged to sense a radio-frequency identification (RFID) identifier of a cleaning pad held by the cleaning robot, the radio-frequency reader being configured to generate a signal indicative of a pad type of the cleaning pad based on the RFID identifier of the cleaning pad; and
a controller responsive to the signal generated by the radio-frequency reader, the controller being configured to control the cleaning robot in a cleaning operation based on the signal indicative of the pad type of the cleaning pad based on the RFID identifier of the cleaning pad.

18. The cleaning robot of claim 17 , wherein configurations of the controller to control the cleaning robot in the cleaning operation as a function of the pad type of the cleaning pad comprise configurations to cause the cleaning robot to
in a first behavior, advance 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, move 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.

19. The cleaning robot of claim 17 , further comprising a pad holder for receiving the cleaning pad, wherein the radio-frequency reader is located on the pad holder.

20. The cleaning robot of claim 17 , wherein the radio-frequency reader is configured to be positioned above the RFID identifier of the cleaning pad when the cleaning pad is held by the cleaning robot.

21. The cleaning robot of claim 17 , further comprising a pad holder for receiving the cleaning pad, the 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.

22. The cleaning robot of claim 17 , wherein the fluid applicator comprises a spraying mechanism configured to spray fluid onto a portion of the floor surface in front of the cleaning robot.

23. The cleaning robot of claim 17 , wherein the controller is configured to control a navigational behavior of the cleaning robot during the cleaning operation, the navigational behavior being based on the signal indicative of the pad type of the cleaning pad based on the RFID identifier.

24. The cleaning robot of claim 17 , wherein the signal indicative of the pad type of the cleaning pad based on the RFID identifier comprises information of at least two navigational behaviors, and the controller is configured to move the cleaning robot according to at least one of the at least two navigational behaviors during the cleaning operation based on a cleaning mode of the cleaning robot.

25. The cleaning robot of claim 24 , wherein:
the cleaning mode is selected from a group consisting of a room cleaning mode and a perimeter cleaning mode,
the at least two navigational behaviors comprise a firs

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

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

Classifications

• A47L11/4061 Primary

  Steering means; Means for avoiding obstacles; Details related to the place where the driver is accommodated · CPC title

• A47L9/0673 Primary

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

• A47L9/2805

  Parameters or conditions being sensed · CPC title

• A47L11/4044 Primary

  Vacuuming or pick-up tools; Squeegees · CPC title

• A47L11/4066

  Propulsion of the whole machine · CPC title