Robotic Lawn Mowing Boundary Determination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018168097-A1
Application number	US-201715850413-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 21, 2017
Priority date	Oct 10, 2014
Publication date	Jun 21, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of mowing an area with an autonomous mowing robot comprises storing, in non-transient memory of the robot, a set of geospatially referenced perimeter data corresponding to positions of the mowing robot as the mowing robot is guided about a perimeter of an area to be mowed, removing from the set of perimeter data one or more data points thereby creating a redacted data set and controlling the mowing robot to autonomously mow an area bounded by a boundary corresponding to the redacted data set, including altering direction of the mowing robot at or near a position corresponding to data in the redacted data set so as to redirect the robot back into the bounded area.

First claim

1 - 26 . (canceled)

27 . A mowing robot comprising:
a grass cutter; a drive system including a motorized wheel; and a controller operably coupled to the motorized wheel for maneuvering the mowing robot to traverse a lawn area, the controller configured to:
control the mowing robot to autonomously mow within an area bounded by a boundary at a first speed, and
control the mowing robot to autonomously mow at a second speed slower than the first speed when the mowing robot is within a predetermined distance to the boundary.

28 . The mowing robot of claim 27 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust a mowing direction of the mowing robot in response to reaching the boundary.

29 . The mowing robot of claim 28 , wherein the controller is configured to control the mowing robot to mow along the boundary at the second speed.

30 . The mowing robot of claim 27 , wherein the first speed is slower than a manual operating speed of the mowing robot, and the mowing robot is configured to operate at the manual operating speed in response to a detachable push bar being connected to the mowing robot.

31 . The mowing robot of claim 27 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the mowing robot to autonomously mow at the second speed when the mowing robot is within the predetermined distance to the boundary, until the mowing robot reaches the boundary.

32 . The mowing robot of claim 27 , wherein the controller is configured to identify the boundary from stored geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates determined in a teaching mode.

33 . The mowing robot of claim 27 , wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a second boundary that is at a predetermined distance from and inside the first boundary, control the mowing robot to mow at the first speed when the robot is within an area bounded by the second boundary, and control the mowing robot to mow at the second speed when the mowing robot is on the second boundary, or between the second boundary and the first boundary.

34 . The mowing robot of claim 33 , wherein the controller is configured to:
identify cells of a two-dimensional data array as corresponding to the positions of the mowing robot; identify cells within the first boundary and within the predetermined distance of the first boundary; and determine the second boundary based on the cells that are within the first boundary and within the predetermined distance of the first boundary.

35 . The mowing robot of claim 27 , wherein the controller is configured to apply a smoothing function to the second boundary to smooth the second boundary.

36 . A mowing robot comprising:
a grass cutter; a drive system including a motorized wheel; and a controller operably coupled to the motorized wheel for maneuvering the mowing robot to traverse a lawn area, the controller configured to:
determine whether the mowing robot is being guided in a forward or a backward direction,
in a teaching mode, store in memory geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates corresponding to positions of the mowing robot during the teaching mode,
suspend storage of the geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates in response to determining that the mowing robot is being guided in a backward direction,
identify a boundary comprising at least some of the geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates stored during the teaching mode, and
control the mowing robot to autonomously mow within an area bounded by the boundary.

37 . The mowing robot of claim 36 , wherein the controller is configured to resume storage of the geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates in response to detecting the mowing robot is moving forward after a suspension of storage of the geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates.

38 . The mowing robot of claim 37 , wherein the controller is configured to perform a smoothing operation on the stored geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates.

39 . The mowing robot of claim 36 , further comprising a removable handle securable to the mowing robot.

40 . The mowing robot of claim 39 , wherein the controller is configured to initiate the teaching mode in response to detecting attachment of the removable handle to the mowing robot.

41 . The mowing robot of claim 40 , wherein the controller is configured to initiate storage of the geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates in response to determining the mowing robot is being guided in a forward direction during the teaching mode.

42 . The mowing robot of claim 36 , wherein the controller is configured to store geospatially referenced perimeter coordinates by marking cells of a two-dimensional data array as corresponding to the positions of the mowing robot;
wherein the controller is further configured to mark cells corresponding to positions of the mowing robot when the mowing robot is guided in the forward direction during the teaching mode as cells that represent the boundary.

43 . The mowing robot of claim 42 , wherein the controller is configured to select outermost locations of the cells that represent the boundary and perform a smoothing operation on the selected cells to determine a smoothed boundary.

44 . A method of mowing an area with an autonomous mowing robot, the method comprising:
maneuvering, using a drive system including a motorized wheel, the mowing robot to traverse a lawn area; controlling, using a controller operably coupled to the drive system, the mowing robot to autonomously mow within an area bounded by a predetermined boundary at a first speed; and controlling, using the controller, the mowing robot to autonomously mow at a second speed slower than the first speed when the mowing robot is within a predetermined distance to the predetermined boundary.

45 . The method of claim 44 , comprising storing, in non-transient memory of the robot, a set of geospatially referenced perimeter data corresponding to positions of the mowing robot as the mowing robot is guided about a perimeter of an area to be mowed.

46 . The method of claim 45 , comprising determining, at the controller, the boundary based on at least a portion of the stored set of geospatially referenced perimeter data.

47 . The method of claim 44 , comprising:
determining a second boundary that is at a predetermined distance from and inside the predetermined boundary, controlling the mowing robot to mow at the first speed when the robot is within an area bounded by the second boundary, and controlling the mowing robot to mow at the second speed when the mowing robot is on the second boundary, or between the second boundary and the predetermined boundary.

48 . The method of claim 47 , comprising:
identifying cells of a two-dimensional data array as corresponding to the positions of the mowing robot; identifying cells that are within the predetermined boundary and within the predetermined distance of the predetermined boundary; and determining the second boundary based on the cells that are within the predetermined boundary and within the predetermined distance of the predetermined boundary.

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

• Yamauchi Brian
• Beaullieu Andrew
• Balutis Paul C

Classifications

• A01D34/008 Primary

  for automated or remotely controlled operation · CPC title

• A01B69/008

  automatic · CPC title

• Y10S901/01

  Mobile robot · CPC title

• A01D2101/00

  Lawn-mowers · CPC title

• G05D1/0236 Primary

  in combination with a laser (lasers per se H01S) · CPC title