Acoustic communication with submerged robots

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025382812-A1
Application number	US-202519313797-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 28, 2025
Priority date	May 4, 2022
Publication date	Dec 18, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a cleaning robot comprising one or more motors and a controller configured to control the one or more motors to generate acoustic signals indicative of content. The controller is configured to control at least one of a frequency of the acoustic signals and a pulse width of acoustic pulses generated by the one or more motors. The controller may be configured to control the one or more motors to generate an ascending sequence of frequencies and to use a frequency of a pulse generated by the one or more motors to validate a pulse width of the pulse. The one or more motors are configured to transmit frequency tones that indicate bits of a first value within the content. The one or more motors comprise at least one of a pump motor and a drive motor, wherein the controller is configured to control electric power within a motor coil using pulse width modulation to generate the acoustic signals.

First claim

1 . A submerged robot comprising:
one or more motors; and a controller configured to control the one or more motors to generate acoustic signals indicative of content.

2 . The submerged robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control at least one of a frequency of the acoustic signals and a pulse width of acoustic pulses generated by the one or more motors.

3 . The submerged robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the one or more motors to generate at least one of an ascending sequence of frequencies to represent a first content and a descending sequence of frequencies to represent a second content.

4 . The submerged robot of claim 2 , wherein the controller is to associate between a frequency of a pulse generated by the one or more motors to a pulse width of the pulse.

5 . The submerged robot of claim 1 , wherein the one or more motors are configured to transmit frequency tones that indicate bits of a first value within the content.

6 . The submerged robot of claim 1 , wherein the one or more motors comprise at least one of a pump motor and a drive motor.

7 . The submerged robot of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to control electric power within a motor coil of the at least one of the pump motor and the drive motor using pulse width modulation to generate the acoustic signals.

8 . The submerged robot according to claim 1 , further comprising a receiver for receiving acoustic signals aimed at the submerged robot, wherein the receiver comprises a microphone.

9 . The submerged robot according to claim 8 , wherein the microphone is positioned on a printed circuit board assembly within an internal housing; wherein the microphone is mechanically coupled to the internal housing to detect vibrations introduced by the acoustic signals aimed at the submerged robot.

10 . The submerged robot according to claim 8 , wherein the microphone is pressed against a portion of the internal housing.

11 . The submerged robot according to claim 8 , wherein the microphone comprises a piezo microphone element with both sides exposed to water.

12 . A method of operating a submerged robot, the method comprising:
controlling, by a controller, one or more motors of the submerged robot to generate acoustic signals indicative of content.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein controlling the one or more motors comprises controlling at least one of a frequency of the acoustic signals and a pulse width of acoustic pulses generated by the one or more motors.

14 . The method according to claim 12 , further comprising generating the acoustic signals indicative of content by the one or more motors.

15 . The method of claim 14 , comprising generating an ascending sequence of frequencies to represent a first content and generating a descending sequence of frequencies to represent a second content.

16 . The method of claim 14 , comprising transmitting frequency tones that indicate bits of a first value within the content.

17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more motors comprise at least one of a pump motor and a drive motor.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein controlling the one or more motors comprises controlling electric power within a motor coil of the at least one of the pump motor and the drive motor using pulse width modulation to generate the acoustic signals.

19 . The method according to claim 12 , further comprising receiving, by a receiver, acoustic signals aimed at the submerged robot, wherein the receiver comprises a microphone.

20 . The method according to claim 19 , wherein the microphone is positioned on a printed circuit board assembly within an internal housing; wherein the microphone is mechanically coupled to the internal housing to detect vibrations introduced by the acoustic signals aimed at the submerged robot.

Assignees

• Maytronics Ltd

Inventors

• Goldenberg Gilad
• Kehati Avshalom
• Spector Netanel

Classifications

• B63B79/40

  for controlling the operation of vessels, e.g. monitoring their speed, routing or maintenance schedules · CPC title

• G05D2105/10

  for cleaning, vacuuming or polishing · CPC title

• H04B11/00

  Transmission systems employing ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves · CPC title

• G05D2109/38

  operating under the water surface, e.g. submarines · CPC title

• G05D2107/29

  Swimming pools · CPC title