Cleaning robot and method for controlling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9504367-B2
Application number	US-201414531511-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 3, 2014
Priority date	Nov 20, 2013
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

A cleaning robot including a main body, a pad mounted below the main body to implement cleaning, and a drive assembly to apply drive power to the pad. The drive assembly moves the main body to a target position by adjusting the drive power. The cleaning robot may move at a high speed owing to omni-directional movement thereof without rotation of the main body. Further, the cleaning robot may imitate a human wiping pattern, thus achieving enhanced cleaning efficiency. Furthermore, various cleaning patterns including a straight pattern and a curvilinear pattern may be applied to the cleaning robot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control method for a cleaning robot, the control method comprising:
checking a target position;
determining gradients and rotation directions of a plurality of pads mounted below a main body based on the target position respectively; and
moving the main body to the target position by adjusting the pads to the determined gradients and operating the pads in the determined rotation directions,
wherein the adjusting includes driving a position variable member of a drive assembly to apply drive power to the pads based on the determined gradients, and
wherein the driving includes driving a first drive member of the position variable member to tilt the pads in a first direction and a second drive member of the position variable member to tilt the pads in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

2. The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining includes:
checking information regarding the target position and information regarding a current position;
acquiring a movement distance and a movement direction of the main body based on the checked current position information and target position information;
determining application positions and application directions of friction between the pads and a floor based on the movement distance and movement direction; and
determining the gradients and rotation directions of the pads based on the application positions and application directions of friction.

3. The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
judging whether or not a point in time to change a movement direction arrives based on information regarding the target position; and
changing positions of contact portions of the pads, to which friction is applied, and application directions of friction by controlling the respective drive assemblies applying drive power to the pads upon judging that a point in time to change a movement direction arrives.

4. The control method according to claim 3 , wherein the changing includes changing the application directions and application positions of friction while maintaining the attitude of the main body.

5. The control method according to claim 2 , wherein the acquiring includes acquiring vector information using the movement distance and movement direction of the main body.

6. The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
judging whether or not wall following is necessary to acquire map information of a cleaning region;
detecting a wall using an obstacle detector upon judging that wall following is necessary;
rotating the main body using friction of the pads such that a movement direction of the main body coincides with a direction of a boundary of the detected wall; and
following the detected wall using friction of the pads.

7. The control method according to claim 6 , further comprising:
changing friction application positions and application directions of the pads based on a direction of the wall at the front when the wall at the front is detected during wall following; and
redetecting a wall in the surroundings using the obstacle detector upon judging that a wall that the cleaning robot is following is not detected based on detection signals of the obstacle detector during wall following, and changing friction application positions and application directions of the pads based on a position of the redetected wall.

8. The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
acquiring spatial information of a cleaning region based on map information;
dividing the cleaning region into a plurality of cells based on the spatial information of the cleaning region;
producing a movement route and a movement pattern based on information regarding the cells; and
implementing cleaning and movement while changing friction application positions and application directions of the pads based on the movement route and movement pattern.

9. The control method according to claim 8 , further comprising:
detecting an obstacle while implementing cleaning and movement; and
changing the movement route and movement pattern when the obstacle is detected.

10. The control method according to claim 8 , further comprising:
detecting a stain on a floor while implementing cleaning and movement; and
changing the movement pattern when the stain is detected.

11. The control method according to claim 10 , further comprising increasing the magnitude of friction when the stain is detected.

12. The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a strength of cleaning based on a cleaning mode; and
adjusting the magnitude of friction based on the determined strength of cleaning.

13. A cleaning robot comprising:
a main body;
a pad mounted below the main body to implement cleaning; and
a drive assembly to apply drive power to the pad, the drive assembly being configured to move the main body to a target position by adjusting the drive power,
wherein the drive assembly includes a position variable member to vary a contact position of the pad coming into contact with a floor to be cleaned and a rotation variable member to rotate the pad about a rotation axis, and
the position variable member includes a first drive member to tilt the pad in a first direction and a second drive member to tilt the pad in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

14. The cleaning robot according to claim 13 , wherein the drive power is based on an application direction and application position of friction to be applied to the pad coming into contact with a floor.

15. The cleaning robot according to claim 13 , wherein the position variable member varies friction between the pad and the floor by adjusting a tilting angle of the pad.

16. The cleaning robot according to claim 13 , wherein the first drive member includes:
a first rotating member to rotate the pad in a first direction; and
a first motor connected to the first rotating member to apply torque to the first rotating member.

17. The cleaning robot according to claim 13 , wherein the second drive member includes:
a second rotating member to rotate the pad in a direction perpendicular to the first direction; and
a second motor to apply torque to the second rotating member.

18. The cleaning robot according to claim 13 , further comprising a controller to control the drive assembly by determining a contact position of the pad coming into contact with the floor and a rotation direction of the pad to move the main body to the target position.

19. The cleaning robot according to claim 18 , wherein the pad includes a first pad and a second pad, and
wherein the drive assembly includes a first drive assembly to drive the first pad and a second drive assembly to drive the second pad.

20. The cleaning robot according to claim 19 , wherein the controller controls the first drive assembly and the second drive assembly respectively such that friction is applied to the first pad and the second pad in opposite directions when the main body implements motion in place.

21. The cleaning robot according to claim 19 , wherein the controller controls the first drive assembly and the second drive assembly respectively such that friction is applied to the first pad and the second pad in a direction opposite to a forward movement direction when the main body implements forward movement.

22. The cleaning robot according to claim 19 , wherein the controller controls the first drive assembly and

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim In Joo
• Yoo Jeong Ki
• Lee Dong Hyun
• Lee Dong Hun
• Kim Jin Sung

Classifications

• A47L2201/04

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

• A47L11/282 Primary

  having rotary tools · CPC title

• A47L11/283

  the tools being disc brushes · CPC title

• A47L11/4011 Primary

  Regulation of the cleaning machine by electric means; Control systems and remote control systems therefor · CPC title

• A47L11/4038

  Disk shaped surface treating tools · CPC title