SELF-CONTAINED UNDERWATER CLEANING OR OTHER WORKING EQUIPMENT WITH WIRELESS CONNECTION FOR REMOTE CONTROL

Abstract

Autonomous underwater cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless connection for remote control, characterized by comprising: - an underwater robot (1) that moves autonomously submerged underwater in a swimming pool (2) or similar body of water, which is equipped with at least one ultrasonic transducer (3); and - a semi-submerged element (4) with an emerged part (4a) above the water surface and a submerged part (4b), which comprises, in its emerged part (4a), at least one radio frequency antenna (5) that communicates wirelessly with an electronic control device (6) located outside the water, and in the submerged part (4b), an ultrasonic transducer (3) with control electronics compatible with the transducer (3) comprising the robot (1), defining, between the two, a sonar mechanism for transmitting information; such that the commands received by the semi-submerged element (4) via the radio frequency antenna (5) from the electronic control device (6) operated by a user are acoustically retransmitted through the transducer (3) to the underwater robot (1).

Description

SELF-CONTAINED UNDERWATER CLEANING OR OTHER WORKING EQUIPMENT WITH WIRELESS CONNECTION FOR REMOTE CONTROL OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The invention, as stated in the present descriptive report, refers to an autonomous cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless connection for remote control that provides, to the function for which it is intended, advantages and characteristics, which are described in detail below and which represent an improvement over the current state of the art. The object of the present invention is an autonomous cleaning device or one for other types of underwater work, for example inspection, measurement or similar, which, being of the type comprising a submersible robot in the water, is distinguished by comprising a mechanism for relaying information between said robot and a semi-submerged element, such as a buoy or an element anchored in the pool, which, based on sonar technology, allows wireless connection for remote control of the robot, even though it is submerged underwater, and turning the robot on and off, sending it commands, directing it along the bottom of the pool, checking its status and even, optionally, allowing its control by voice. FIELD OF APPLICATION OF THE INVENTION The field of application of the present invention falls within the sector of the industry dedicated to the manufacture of robots and autonomous cleaning equipment or other tasks, while also encompassing the field of underwater systems. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Robot vacuum cleaners that operate autonomously are widely known, and they usually have a wireless connection via wifi or bluetooth to be controlled remotely and even display a plan of the house / room, the route it has taken, etc. The problem is that, with an underwater robot designed for cleaning the bottom of swimming pools or similar bodies of water, being submerged underwater, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth communications do not work. The objective of the present invention is, therefore, the development of an underwater cleaning equipment that allows wireless communication to enable remote control of the robot, even when submerged underwater, making it possible to perform the same controls and actions as with any conventional robot. Furthermore, and with reference to the current state of the art, it should be noted that, at least as far as the applicant is concerned, there is no knowledge of any other autonomous underwater cleaning equipment that has technical, structural and constitutive characteristics equal or similar to those claimed herein. In this regard, as the closest relevant documents, it should be noted that there is knowledge of the existence of patent US20070067930A1, referring to a wireless pool cleaning robot that basically consists of a battery-powered body, adapted to move along the bottom and / or walls of the pool, which may include a tail that floats on the surface of the pool, which may have a floating user interface. Also known by patent US10209719B2 is an interactive pool cleaning robot, a laptop computer, and a method for operating a robot, where said method may include the robot receiving demarcation information that defines the pool zones and their operating parameters; said information is generated by a laptop computer under the control of a user; and the robot performing a cleaning operation based on said information. Also, patent USRE45852E1 discloses a pool cleaning device with at least one ultrasonic generator, a pool cleaning machine including a support frame, a housing with a lower wall arranged around the support frame, an impeller located in the housing, a drive supported by the frame and arranged to be placed, during use, on the surface of the pool to be cleaned and operated, at least one water suction opening on the lower surface of the housing, designed to communicate smoothly with the water suction, an impeller hermetically sealed in the housing and electrically connectable to the power supply, and the ultrasonic generator arranged on the lower wall, oriented, during use, towards the surface to be cleaned. And, by document US20120298566A1, an ultrasonic pool cleaner assembly has been disclosed that applies ultrasonic energy to optimize pool cleaning, eliminating contaminants and managing biological organisms and unnecessary waste. However, none of the aforementioned documents, taken independently or in combination, defines equipment as described in the present invention, as claimed herein. EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION The autonomous underwater cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless connection for remote control that the invention proposes is configured as an ideal solution to achieve the objectives indicated above, which, at the same time, represents an improvement over the current state of the art, with the characterizing details that make it possible and that distinguish it being conveniently included in the final claims that accompany this description. Specifically, what the invention proposes, as previously mentioned, is a cleaning device or one for other types of underwater work, for example, inspection, measurement, or similar tasks, which, being of the type comprising a submersible robot that moves autonomously in the water, is distinguished by comprising a mechanism for relaying information between said robot and a semi-submerged element, such as a buoy or an element anchored in the pool, which, based on sonar technology, allows wireless connection for remote control of the robot, even though it is submerged underwater, and to carry out actions on it such as turning the robot on and off, sending it commands, directing it along the bottom of the pool, and even checking its status (battery level). To achieve this, and more specifically, the way to communicate underwater with the robot is through sound, via a sonar, which acts as a link between the aerial and aquatic environments. This involves the inclusion of a semi-submerged element, such as a buoy or an element anchored in the pool, preferably powered by a battery, with a wireless communication module, such as Wifi or Bluetooth, on its upper part, and a sonar on its lower part. Furthermore, ideally, the data connection between the underwater robot and the semi-submerged element, such as a buoy or an element anchored in the pool, would be bidirectional, since the underwater robot also has its own sonar, which will allow it to receive the signal from the semi-submerged element, and at the same time also allow it to respond. Furthermore, the equipment of the invention preferably includes voice control capabilities. For this purpose, the equipment preferably includes a specific app whose software contains algorithms for transmitting the robot's movement instructions by voice. It is also envisaged that the semi-submerged element has a microphone that captures the robot's movement instructions spoken directly by a user near the semi-submerged element and transmits them to the robot. More specifically, the equipment that is the subject of the invention is based on a mechanism for relaying information using sonar technology between the robot submerged in the water and the semi-submerged element in order to be able to remotely control its operation through a specific app implemented on a mobile phone or other similar device. To do this, both devices, that is, the robot and the semi-submerged element, are equipped with an ultrasound transducer capable of transmitting and receiving information by generating acoustic signals that travel through the aquatic medium using a modulation technique. The modulation techniques that can be used are similar to those used to encode data in an acoustic telephone link, namely: OOK (On-Off Keying), FSK (Frequency Shift Keying), QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation). It is important to highlight that the underwater robot can use, for the transmission and reception of information, either an ultrasound transducer exclusively dedicated to this task, or use the transducer(s) it normally uses for cleaning tasks, thus reducing the implementation cost. As a semi-submerged element, such as a buoy or an element anchored in the pool, preferably, it is equipped with a rechargeable battery, and in any case, it has wireless connectivity, such as Bluetooth, Wifi or any other standard or proprietary communication protocol based on radio frequency wave transmission. Therefore, the invention, especially for its application as a cleaning system, can be used for: - The ability to remotely specify, while the robot is submerged, the location for intensive cleaning. Using a mobile phone with the robot's control app, the user can direct the robot to the area of ​​interest using buttons within the app. The robot can also memorize this area and locate it if equipped with a sonar-based auto-positioning service, allowing it to recall the operator's instructions for more efficient cleaning in future sessions. - The ability to instruct the cleaning robot to surface for retrieval by an operator. Once the cleaning cycle is complete, the robot can remain in standby mode, awaiting the command to surface (by climbing one of the pool walls). This simplifies retrieving the robot, eliminating the need for a pole to retrieve it from the pool floor. This can be done in two ways: using a mobile phone with the robot's control app, or by directly pressing a button located on a semi-submerged element, always keeping the ultrasonic transducer submerged in the water so the command reaches the robot. - To be able to obtain, during the cleaning process, data on the robot's status and operational diagnostics. The transmission of this status data will allow the operator to know the progress of the pool cleaning cycle, as well as be notified when the cleaning cycle has finished. Furthermore, it also allows the operator to be notified of any issues that may have occurred during the cleaning process (robot blocked, full waste basket, low battery, etc.). All these functions are possible because the semi-submerged relay element retransmits data via an acoustic link obtained from other communication channels operating on the surface. This semi-submerged element enables communication with the robot, since radio frequency signal transmission does not work underwater, preventing the robot from communicating directly via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi networks. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To complement the description being made and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, a sheet of drawings is attached to this descriptive document as an integral part thereof, in which the following has been represented for illustrative and non-limiting purposes: Figure number 1 and only. - Shows a schematic side elevation representation of the autonomous cleaning equipment or other underwater tasks with wireless connection for remote control that is the object of the invention, showing the main parts and elements that it comprises. PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In view of the described figure 1, and in accordance with the numbering adopted therein, an example of a non-limiting embodiment of the autonomous equipment for cleaning or other underwater tasks with wireless connection for remote control of the invention can be observed, which comprises what is described in detail below. Thus, as shown in the figure, the equipment of the invention essentially comprises the following: - an underwater robot (1) that moves autonomously submerged underwater, for example in a swimming pool (2) or similar body of water, which is equipped with at least one ultrasonic transducer (3); and - semi-submerged element (4), such as a buoy or an element anchored in the pool, having an emerged part (4a) above the water surface and a submerged part (4b), which comprises, in its emerged part (4a), at least one radio frequency antenna (5), which communicates wirelessly with an electronic control device (6) located outside the water, and in the submerged part (4b), an ultrasonic transducer (3) with control electronics compatible with said transducer (3) comprising the robot (1), defining between them a sonar mechanism for transmitting information; such that the orders received by the semi-submerged element (4) by the radio frequency antenna (5) from the electronic control device (6) operated by a user, are retransmitted acoustically through the transducer (3) to the underwater robot (1). Preferably, the sonar mechanism for transmitting information between the ultrasonic transducer (3) located in the submerged part (4b) of the semi-submerged element (4) and the ultrasonic transducer (3) of the robot (1) is based on the use of FSK frequency modulation or Frequency Shift Keying. However, other modulation techniques such as OOK (on-off coding) or QAM (quadrate modulation coding) are not ruled out. Furthermore, the ultrasonic transducer (3) of the underwater robot (1) used for the transmission and reception of information with the ultrasonic transducer (3) of the semi-submerged element (4) may consist either of an ultrasonic transducer exclusively dedicated to this task, or of a transducer that, at the same time, forms part of one or more transducers comprising the robot (1) for cleaning or other tasks. In any case, preferably, the semi-submerged element (4) comprises a rechargeable battery (7) for electrical power supply which allows autonomous operation avoiding the need for any connection cable to the network. Preferably, the radio frequency antenna (5) comprising the semi-submerged element (4) in its emerged part (4a) is a Bluetooth type antenna and the electronic control device (6) is a mobile phone. Preferably, the semi-submerged element (4) comprises a communications module (8) that includes the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi antenna, allowing a connection to the cloud to report on the cleaning progress, preferably through a specific app. In one embodiment of the invention, the equipment comprises means for receiving user instructions by voice. For example, one embodiment of the invention provides a specific app implementable on a mobile phone or electronic control device (6) with software that includes algorithms for transmitting control instructions to the robot (1) by voice. Additionally, the semi-submerged element (4) also comprises a plate temperature sensor (9) and a three-axis accelerometer (10) to determine if it is properly oriented. Preferably, the robot's (1) ultrasonic transducer (3) is the same transducer used for the semi-submerged element (4) as a sonar for sending and receiving information. This is possible because the transducer (3) preferably has a certain spectral amplitude, both in transmission (SPL Sound Pressure Level) and reception (Sensitivity). Although the resonant frequency of the transducer (3) is 40KHz, the lower tail is wider and therefore a carrier of 39KHz with a modulation deviation of 400Hz is chosen. For reception, the center frequency of 40KHz has been chosen with the same modulation factor, since the area closest to resonance is also the most sensitive, and it is important to work in the most favorable area in the link from the semi-submerged element (4) to the robot (1) (downlink), since the commands will be more frequent than those from the robot (1) to the semi-submerged element (4) (uplink). The frequencies, therefore, are preferably as follows: The baud rate chosen for bidirectional transmission is 300 baud. Commands are transmitted in 31-bit blocks using a Hamming (31, 26) code, which allows for a 26-bit payload and adequate error correction. The implementation of the FSK modulator-demodulator at both ends is similar to that of a modem compliant with the CCITT V-21 standard. The Bluetooth-Wifi communications module (8) integrated into the semi-submerged element (4) receives signals via a Bluetooth RGP (Remote Guidance Panel) service with 4 buttons (forward, backward, turn right and turn left). When the user presses the manual direction buttons, the commands are translated into messages that are transmitted, by ultrasonic modulation, from the semi-submerged element (4) to the robot (1), which receives them through the ultrasonic transducer (3), moving the robot (1) according to the commands received. The user can also memorize the position of interest to schedule routine cleaning in that area. Having sufficiently described the nature of the present invention, as well as the manner of putting it into practice, it is not considered necessary to make its explanation more extensive so that any expert in the field can understand its scope and the advantages that derive from it.

Claims

1. An autonomous underwater cleaning or other underwater task equipment with wireless remote control, characterized by comprising: - an underwater robot (1) that moves autonomously while submerged in the water of a swimming pool (2) or similar body of water, which is equipped with at least one ultrasonic transducer (3); and - a semi-submerged element (4) with an emerged part (4a) above the water surface and a submerged part (4b), which comprises, in its emerged part (4a), at least one radio frequency antenna (5) that communicates wirelessly with an electronic control device (6) located outside the water, and in its submerged part (4b), an ultrasonic transducer (3) with control electronics compatible with the transducer (3) comprising the robot (1), defining, between the two, a sonar mechanism for transmitting information; such that,The commands received by the semi-submerged element (4) via the radio frequency antenna (5) from the electronic control device (6) operated by a user are acoustically retransmitted through the transducer (3) to the underwater robot (1).

2. Autonomous underwater cleaning or other task equipment with wireless connection for remote control, according to claim 1, characterized in that the sonar mechanism for transmitting information between the ultrasonic transducer (3) located in the submerged part (4b) of the semi-submerged element (4) and the ultrasonic transducer (3) of the robot (1) is based on frequency shift modulation.

3. Autonomous underwater cleaning or other task equipment with wireless connection for remote control, according to claim 1,characterized in that the sonar mechanism for transmitting information between the ultrasonic transducer (3) located in the submerged part (4b) of the semi-submerged element (4) and the ultrasonic transducer (3) of the robot (1) is based on on-off encoding.

4. Autonomous equipment for cleaning or other underwater tasks with wireless connection for remote control, according to claim 1, characterized in that the sonar mechanism for transmitting information between the ultrasonic transducer (3) located in the submerged part (4b) of the semi-submerged element (4) and the ultrasonic transducer (3) of the robot (1) is based on encoding by quadrature modulation.

5. Autonomous equipment for cleaning or other underwater tasks with wireless connection for remote control, according to any of the preceding claims,characterized in that the semi-submerged element (4) comprises a rechargeable battery (7).

6. Self-contained underwater cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless remote control, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the radio frequency antenna (5) of the semi-submerged element (4) is of the Bluetooth type and the electronic control device (6) is a mobile phone.

7. Self-contained underwater cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless remote control, according to claim 6, characterized in that the semi-submerged element (4) comprises a communications module (8) that includes the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi antenna that allows connection to the cloud.

8. Self-contained underwater cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless remote control, according to claim 6 or 7,characterized in that it comprises a specific APP implementable on the mobile phone or electronic control device (6) with software that includes algorithms for transmitting control instructions to the robot (1) by voice.

9. Autonomous cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless connection for remote control, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the semi-submerged element (4) comprises a temperature sensor (9) on a plate.

10. Autonomous cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless connection for remote control, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the semi-submerged element (4) comprises a three-axis accelerometer (10) to determine if it is properly oriented.

11. Autonomous cleaning or other underwater work equipment with wireless connection for remote control, according to any of the preceding claims,characterized in that the ultrasonic transducer (3) of the underwater robot (1) is an ultrasonic transducer exclusively dedicated to the transmission and reception of information with the ultrasonic transducer (3) of the semi-submerged element (4).