Navigation method and self-propelled device

Abstract

A navigation method and a self-propelled device, the navigation method being applied to the self-propelled device, comprising: after completing the current operation task, determining a travel area to be supplemented; determining whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented; and in response to the existence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, controlling the self-propelled device to reach the reachable position, and controlling the self-propelled device to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented to perform operations in the travel area to be supplemented.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of self-propelled devices, and in particular, to a navigation method and a self-propelled device, and in particular to a navigation method for a self-propelled device and a self-propelled device using the navigation method. Background Art

[0002] With the development of technology, various intelligent self-propelled devices have emerged, such as sweeping robots, mopping robots, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, etc. These robots can automatically identify the cleaning route and select the cleaning mode according to the cleaning route, which not only liberates labor but also saves labor costs. Summary of the invention

[0003] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a navigation method, which is applied to a self-propelled device, comprising:

[0004] After completing the current operation task, determine the travel area to be supplemented;

[0005] Determine whether there is a reachable location adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented; and

[0006] In response to the existence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device is controlled to reach the reachable position, and the self-propelled device is controlled to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented to perform operations in the travel area to be supplemented.

[0007] In some embodiments, the navigation method further includes: in response to the absence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, controlling the self-propelled device to give up entering the travel area to be supplemented.

[0008] In some embodiments, determining the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information; wherein the data information includes environmental data information acquired by the self-propelled device during the completion of the current operation task; judging that the obstacle is a passable obstacle based on the environmental data information, and the obstacle is located at the boundary position of the travel area reached by the self-propelled device in the current operation task, then determining that the side of the obstacle facing away from the reached area is the travel area to be supplemented.

[0009] In some embodiments, the environmental data information includes: at least one or any combination of structured light point cloud information, laser ranging information and image information.

[0010] In some embodiments, determining the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information; wherein, the data information includes data information of historical work tasks recorded by the self-propelled device, and the data information of the historical work tasks includes: historical map information and / or historical navigation information; based on the data information of the historical work tasks, it is determined that the travel area reached by the current work task does not include a partial area reached by the historical work task, and then the partial area is determined to be the travel area to be supplemented.

[0011] In some embodiments, determining whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining an adjacent portion of the traveled area adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, and in response to the fact that the junction between the adjacent portion and the travel area to be supplemented has only passable obstacles, determining that the adjacent portion is the reachable position.

[0012] In some embodiments, controlling the self-propelled device to reach the reachable position and controlling the self-propelled device to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented includes: ignoring the passable obstacle at the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented, and controlling the self-propelled device to travel toward the travel area to be supplemented via the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented.

[0013] In some embodiments, the navigable obstacle comprises a threshold and / or a carpet edge.

[0014] In some embodiments, there are multiple reachable positions, and the reachable positions are selected in a predetermined order, and the self-propelled device is controlled to try to enter the travel area to be supplemented.

[0015] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a navigation device, which is applied to a self-propelled device, and the navigation device includes:

[0016] A traveling area to be supplemented determining unit, used to determine the traveling area to be supplemented after the self-propelled device completes the current operation task;

[0017] a reachable position determining unit, configured to determine whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the to-be-supplemented travel area; and

[0018] The control unit is used for controlling the self-propelled device to reach the reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented in response to the existence of the reachable position, and controlling the self-propelled device to try to enter the travel area to be supplemented to perform operations in the travel area to be supplemented.

[0019] In some embodiments, the control unit is further configured to control the self-propelled device to give up entering the travel area to be supplemented in response to the absence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented.

[0020] In some embodiments, determining the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information;

[0021] Wherein, the data information includes environmental data information acquired by the self-propelled device in the process of completing the current operation task;

[0022] The to-be-supplemented travel area determination unit is configured to, in response to judging that an obstacle is a passable obstacle based on environmental data information, and that the obstacle is located at a boundary position of a traveled area that the self-propelled device has reached in the current operation task, determine that the side of the obstacle facing away from the reached area is the to-be-supplemented travel area.

[0023] In some embodiments, the environmental data information includes: at least one or any combination of structured light point cloud information, laser ranging information and image information.

[0024] In some embodiments, determining the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information;

[0025] Wherein, the data information includes data information of historical operation tasks recorded by the self-propelled device, and the data information of the historical operation tasks includes: historical map information and / or historical navigation information;

[0026] The to-be-supplemented travel area determination unit is configured to determine the partial area as the to-be-supplemented travel area in response to judging, based on the data information of the historical work tasks, that the traveled area reached by the current work task does not include the partial area reached by the historical work task.

[0027] In some embodiments, the reachable position determination unit is configured to determine an adjacent portion of the traveled area that is adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, and in response to the adjacent portion and the travel area to be supplemented having only passable obstacles at the junction, determine the adjacent portion as the reachable position.

[0028] In some embodiments, the control unit is configured to ignore the passable obstacle at the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented, and control the self-propelled device to travel toward the travel area to be supplemented through the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented.

[0029] In some embodiments, the navigable obstacle comprises a threshold and / or a carpet edge.

[0030] In some embodiments, there are multiple reachable positions, and the control unit is configured to select the reachable positions in a predetermined order and control the self-propelled device to try to enter the travel area to be supplemented.

[0031] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a self-propelled device, including a processor and a memory, characterized in that the memory stores computer program instructions that can be executed by the processor, and when the processor executes the computer program instructions, the aforementioned method steps are implemented.

[0032] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that computer program instructions are stored therein, and the computer program instructions implement the method steps described in the aforementioned embodiments when called and executed by a processor.

[0033] Compared with the related art, the above solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0034] A navigation method for a self-propelled device, such as a sweeping robot, detects an area to be re-sweeped through environmental data information and / or data information of historical work tasks, and confirms whether the area to be re-sweeped is reachable, thereby providing a basis for subsequent cleaning operations and improving the cleaning coverage rate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] The drawings herein are incorporated into the specification and constitute a part of the specification, showing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure, and together with the specification, are used to explain the principles of the present disclosure. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and for ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work. In the drawings:

[0036] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0037] Figure 2 A flowchart of a navigation method applied to a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0038] Figure 3 A scene graph of a navigation method applied to a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0039] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a control device for a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0040] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the electronic structure of a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure clearer, the present disclosure will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0042] It should also be noted that the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a product or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such product or device. In the absence of more restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprises a" do not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the product or device including the elements.

[0043] Self-propelled devices, such as sweeping robots, can use differential chassis, and their environmental perception can be performed through one or more sensors such as cameras, depth imaging devices, laser distance sensors (LDS), odometers, inertial measurement units (IMU), etc. For sweeping robots with non-random collisions, the sweeping robot software performs real-time positioning and mapping (SLAM), depth estimation, obstacle detection and other operations based on sensor data, so as to obtain the location map and obstacle information required for navigation, thereby realizing functions such as obstacle avoidance.

[0044] When the sweeping robot performs cleaning operations, especially when the obstacle avoidance function is insufficient, the sweeping robot is likely to collide with furniture or small obstacles. At this time, the sweeping robot is likely to cause damage to the furniture due to the collision. At the same time, the unplanned movement caused by the collision is also likely to cause the sweeping robot to be trapped or damaged, affecting the cleaning process. The present disclosure proposes a solution, which is to place a depth sensor that can observe obstacles, such as a two-line structured light, at the front end of the sweeping machine to observe the environment, thereby achieving the purpose of collision avoidance.

[0045] For the above-mentioned obstacle avoidance method using the depth sensor, the following problem may occur in the collision avoidance mode: since the depth sensor cannot determine the obstacle in front of it, the threshold, carpet edge, etc. may be considered as an obstacle and avoided based on the obstacle detection based on a single observation of the depth sensor. As a result, the room behind the threshold and the carpet area are not cleaned, and the cleaning efficiency will be greatly reduced.

[0046] The present disclosure provides a navigation method, which is applied to a self-propelled device, such as a sweeping robot, etc. The navigation method at least comprises the following steps:

[0047] After completing the current operation task, determine the travel area to be supplemented;

[0048] Determine whether there is a reachable location adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented; and

[0049] In response to the existence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device is controlled to reach the reachable position, and the self-propelled device is controlled to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented to perform operations in the travel area to be supplemented.

[0050] By adopting the navigation method disclosed in the present invention, a navigation method for a self-propelled device, such as a sweeping robot, detects the area to be re-sweeped through environmental data information and / or data information of historical operation tasks, and confirms whether the area to be re-sweeped is reachable, thereby providing a basis for subsequent sweeping operations and improving the sweeping coverage rate. The environmental data information includes, for example, at least one or any combination of structured light point cloud information, laser ranging information, and image information, and the data information of the historical operation tasks includes: historical map information and / or historical navigation information.

[0051] The optional embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0052] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, such as Figure 1 As shown, a self-propelled device 100, such as a sweeping robot, includes a laser distance sensor (LDS) 10 located on the top of the sweeping robot body 110, and an image sensor 20 located on the side wall of the robot body 110. The image sensor 20 includes, for example, a structured light imaging component, and the image sensor 20 may also include a visible light imaging component. The laser distance sensor 10 is used to detect obstacles around the self-propelled device and to detect the distance between the obstacle and the self-propelled device 100, and is specifically used to detect obstacles that are higher than the self-propelled device 100 body. The image sensor 20 is used to obtain images of obstacles in the direction of travel of the self-propelled device 100.

[0053] Figure 2 Flowchart of a navigation method for a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, see Figure 2 As shown, the navigation method includes the following steps:

[0054] S220: After completing the current operation task, determine the travel area to be supplemented;

[0055] The current operation task described here can be understood as the self-propelled device 100, such as a sweeping robot, performing a cleaning task according to the user's instructions, and not contacting or colliding with obstacles in the process. Specifically, the self-propelled device 100, such as a sweeping robot, adopts a collision-free mode when performing cleaning operations, that is, bypassing obstacles detected by the sweeping robot to avoid collisions between the sweeping robot and home furnishings and small obstacles, resulting in damage to furniture, etc., or the sweeping robot being trapped or damaged, to ensure that it can smoothly perform the cleaning operation. At this time, due to the limited recognition precision and accuracy, the self-propelled device 100 may regard the threshold, carpet edge, etc. as obstacles and avoid them, resulting in the room behind the threshold, carpet area, etc. not being cleaned, and the room behind the threshold, carpet area, etc. obviously belong to the area that needs to be cleaned, so it is necessary to determine these areas and record them as the travel area to be supplemented.

[0056] S240: Determine whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented;

[0057] Specifically, after determining the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device 100, such as a sweeping robot, needs to determine whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, that is, whether there is an entrance or passage to enter the travel area to be supplemented. If there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, the following step S260 can be performed; if there is no reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to give up entering the travel area to be supplemented and not clean the travel area to be supplemented.

[0058] S260: In response to the existence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, controlling the self-propelled device to reach the reachable position, and controlling the self-propelled device to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented to perform operations in the travel area to be supplemented.

[0059] Specifically, the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to move to a reachable position, and the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to try to enter the travel area to be replenished. If the self-propelled device 100 enters the travel area to be replenished after the attempt, the self-propelled device 100 performs a cleaning operation in the travel area to be replenished. If the self-propelled device 100 still cannot enter the travel area to be replenished after the attempt, the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to give up entering the travel area to be replenished and not clean the travel area to be replenished.

[0060] In some embodiments, in step S220, determining the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information. The data information includes environmental data information acquired by the self-propelled device during the completion of the current operation task; judging that the obstacle is a passable obstacle according to the environmental data information, and the obstacle is located at the boundary position of the travel area reached by the self-propelled device during the current operation task, then determining that the side of the obstacle facing away from the reached area is the travel area to be supplemented.

[0061] Specifically, the environmental data information includes: at least one or any combination of structured light point cloud information, laser distance measurement information and image information. The structured light point cloud information is obtained by the structured light imaging component in the image sensor 20, the laser distance measurement information is obtained by the laser distance sensor (LDS) 10, and the image information is obtained by the visible light imaging component in the image sensor 20.

[0062] The self-propelled device 100 can obtain information about obstacles, such as the outline of the obstacle, the distance between the obstacle and the self-propelled device 100, etc., based on the laser distance sensor (LDS) 10, the structured light imaging component and the visible light imaging component in the image sensor 20, and such information also belongs to the environmental data information. Specifically, the self-propelled device 100 can obtain information about obstacles in the environment surrounding the self-propelled device based on the laser distance sensor (LDS) 10, especially information about obstacles that are higher than the self-propelled device 100 body, such as the distance information between each point on the obstacle and the self-propelled device 100, so that the outline information of the obstacle and the positional relationship between the obstacle and the self-propelled device 100 can be obtained. The self-propelled device 100 can obtain structured light point cloud information of obstacles in the direction of the self-propelled device through the structured light imaging component in the image sensor 20. Even if the obstacle is lower than the height of the self-propelled device 100, the structured light imaging component can detect the obstacle and obtain its structured light point cloud information, such as the outline of the obstacle and the distance information between the obstacle and the self-propelled device 100. The self-propelled device 100 can directly capture the image of the obstacle in the direction of the self-propelled device through the visible light imaging component in the image sensor 20.

[0063] During the process of the self-propelled device 100 performing the cleaning operation in the collision-free mode, the laser distance sensor (LDS) 10, the structured light imaging component and the visible light imaging component in the image sensor 20 obtain information about the obstacle, and perform the cleaning operation by bypassing the obstacle to avoid the collision between the self-propelled device 100 and the obstacle. When the self-propelled device 100 completes the cleaning operation in the collision-free mode, the area that has been cleaned is the traveled area. Subsequently, the self-propelled device 100 determines whether the obstacle is a passable obstacle and whether the obstacle is located at the boundary position of the traveled area that the self-propelled device has reached in the current operation task based on the environmental data information, such as the structured light point cloud information, laser distance measurement information and image information about the obstacle obtained during the process of the self-propelled device 100 performing the cleaning operation in the collision-free mode.

[0064] Specifically, the method of determining whether an obstacle is a passable obstacle is as follows: when the obstacle can be detected by the laser distance sensor (LDS) 10 of the self-propelled device 100, that is, the height of the obstacle is higher than the height of the body 110 of the self-propelled device 100, the obstacle is determined to be an inaccessible obstacle, because the door sill, the edge of the carpet, etc. are generally not higher than the body 110 of the self-propelled device 100. When the obstacle cannot be detected by the laser distance sensor (LDS) 10 of the self-propelled device 100, but can be detected by the structured light imaging component or the visible light imaging component of the self-propelled device 100, and the height of the obstacle is lower than a first threshold, the obstacle is determined to be a passable obstacle, and the first threshold is, for example, less than the height of the body 110 of the self-propelled device 100, and the first threshold is, for example, less than or equal to the height of the body 110 of the self-propelled device 100 from the ground. Whether an obstacle is a passable obstacle can also be determined by the image information of the obstacle. For example, the image information of the obstacle is analyzed. Specifically, for example, a convolutional neural network is used to process the image information of the obstacle to determine the category of the obstacle. If the obstacle is determined to be a threshold, a carpet edge, etc., then the obstacle is determined to be a passable obstacle.

[0065] Several methods of determining whether an obstacle is a passable obstacle are listed above, but the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, the judgment can also be made by comprehensively considering and analyzing the light point cloud information, laser ranging information and image information of the obstacle.

[0066] After determining whether the obstacle is a passable obstacle, if the obstacle is a passable obstacle and the passable obstacle is located at the boundary of the traveled area reached by the self-propelled device in the current operation task, the side of the obstacle facing away from the reached area is determined to be the travel area to be supplemented. In this way, the passable obstacle is located at the junction of the traveled area and the travel area to be supplemented, and the self-propelled device 100 may pass through the passable obstacle and enter the travel area to be supplemented.

[0067] In some embodiments, in step S220, determining the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information; wherein, the data information includes data information of historical work tasks recorded by the self-propelled device, and the data information of the historical work tasks includes: historical map information and / or historical navigation information; based on the data information of the historical work tasks, it is determined that the travel area reached by the current work task does not include a partial area reached by the historical work task, and then the partial area is determined to be the travel area to be supplemented.

[0068] Specifically, when the self-propelled device performs each cleaning operation, it will store data information of the operation task. The data information of the operation task includes map information of its travel area and navigation information. The map information reflects the area that the self-propelled device can clean, and the navigation information reflects the path that the self-propelled device performs the cleaning operation.

[0069] When the self-propelled device 100 completes the cleaning operation in the collision-free mode, the area that has been cleaned is the traveled area, and the self-propelled device 100 determines whether the traveled area reached by the current operation task includes a part of the area reached by the historical operation task. If not, the part of the area is determined as the traveled area to be supplemented.

[0070] In the above embodiments, the method of determining the travel area to be supplemented based on the environmental data information obtained by the self-propelled device during the completion of the current operation task and the method of determining the travel area to be supplemented based on the data information of the historical operation tasks recorded by the self-propelled device are listed. The present disclosure does not make specific limitations on this, and the determination of the travel area to be supplemented can also be a combination of the above two methods to make a comprehensive judgment.

[0071] In some embodiments, in step 240, determining whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining an adjacent portion of the traveled area adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, and in response to the fact that the junction between the adjacent portion and the travel area to be supplemented has only passable obstacles, determining that the adjacent portion is the reachable position.

[0072] Specifically, it is first determined whether the traveled area that the self-propelled device 100 has completed cleaning in this operation is adjacent to the previously determined travel area to be supplemented, that is, whether there is an adjacent portion in the traveled area that is adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented. If there is no adjacent portion in the traveled area that is adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, it is impossible for the self-propelled device 100 to enter the supplemented travel area from the traveled area. At this time, the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to give up entering the travel area to be supplemented and not clean the travel area to be supplemented.

[0073] If there is an adjacent portion in the traveled area adjacent to the traveled area to be supplemented, it is further determined that there is only a passable obstacle at the junction of the adjacent portion and the traveled area to be supplemented. If there is no passable obstacle at the junction of the adjacent portion and the traveled area to be supplemented, or there is a passable obstacle and an inpassable obstacle at the same time, at this time, the self-propelled device 100 cannot enter the supplemented travel area from the traveled area. At this time, the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to give up entering the traveled area to be supplemented and does not clean the traveled area to be supplemented.

[0074] If there are only passable obstacles but no inpassable obstacles at the junction of the adjacent portion and the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device 100 can try to enter the travel area to be supplemented from the adjacent portion to perform supplementary cleaning operations, and the adjacent portion can be used as a reachable position.

[0075] In some embodiments, in step S260, controlling the self-propelled device to reach the reachable position and controlling the self-propelled device to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented includes:

[0076] Ignoring the passable obstacle at the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device is controlled to travel toward the travel area to be supplemented through the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented.

[0077] Specifically, when the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented, the passable obstacle at the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented is ignored, for example, the data information of the corresponding passable obstacle collected by the self-propelled device 100, such as the structured light point cloud information of the passable obstacle, is ignored, and the self-propelled device 100 can travel toward the travel area to be supplemented through the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented in the collision-free mode. In some embodiments, the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to exit the collision-free mode and directly travel toward the travel area to be supplemented through the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented.

[0078] If the self-propelled device 100 successfully enters the travel area to be replenished, the self-propelled device 100 performs a replenishment cleaning operation in the replenishment travel area. If the self-propelled device 100 fails to enter the travel area to be replenished, it is determined that the self-propelled device 100 cannot enter the replenishment travel area from the travel area that has been traveled. At this time, the self-propelled device 100 is controlled to give up entering the travel area to be replenished and does not clean the travel area to be replenished.

[0079] In some embodiments, considering that when the self-propelled device 100 attempts to enter the travel area to be supplemented, at a reachable position, due to various factors, such as the travel speed of the self-propelled device 100, the driving power, etc., the self-propelled device 100 may not be able to enter the travel area to be supplemented through one attempt, therefore, for the same reachable position, the self-propelled device 100 may perform multiple attempts. In some embodiments, the success rate of the self-propelled device 100 entering the travel area to be supplemented can be increased by increasing the driving power of the self-propelled device 100.

[0080] In some embodiments, the number of accessible positions may be one or more, and the self-propelled device 100 may attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented from any of the multiple accessible positions. In some embodiments, the self-propelled device 100 may sort each accessible position according to the distance therefrom. For example, the accessible position includes M accessible positions, namely the first accessible position, the second accessible position...the Mth accessible position. The first accessible position, the second accessible position...the Mth accessible position are successively away from the self-propelled device 100, and the self-propelled device 100 may select the first accessible position closest to it to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented. If the self-propelled device 100 cannot enter the travel area to be supplemented after trying at the first accessible position, the self-propelled device 100 selects the second accessible position to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented, and if the self-propelled device 100 cannot enter the travel area to be supplemented after trying at the second accessible position, the self-propelled device 100 selects the third accessible position to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented. The above-mentioned attempt operation traverses M accessible positions until the self-propelled device 100 successfully enters the travel area to be supplemented.

[0081] By adopting the navigation method described in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the area to be re-sweeped can be detected through environmental data information and / or data information of historical work tasks, and it can be confirmed whether the area to be re-sweeped is reachable, providing a basis for subsequent cleaning operations and improving the cleaning coverage rate.

[0082] In some embodiments, Figure 3 A scene graph of a navigation method for a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, such as Figure 3In the example, the self-propelled device 100, such as a sweeping robot, starts cleaning in the living room 310. The self-propelled device 100 adopts the collision-free mode when performing the cleaning operation. When the self-propelled device 100 detects the threshold 330, the threshold 330 is used as an obstacle to perform obstacle avoidance operation, so that the self-propelled device 100 cannot pass through the threshold 330 to enter the bedroom 320 for cleaning operation. After the self-propelled device 100 completes the cleaning operation in the living room 310, for this cleaning operation, the living room 310 is the traveled area, the threshold 330 is a passable obstacle, and the bedroom 320 is the area to be cleaned, and the area 311 of the living room 310 adjacent to the threshold 330 is the accessible area.

[0083] The disclosed embodiment further provides a self-propelled device, such as a navigation device of a sweeping robot. Each unit performs the method steps described in the above embodiment. The same method steps have the same technical effects, which will not be described in detail here. Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a navigation device for a self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, such as Figure 4 As shown, the navigation device 400 specifically includes:

[0084] The traveling area to be supplemented determining unit 420 is used to determine the traveling area to be supplemented after completing the current operation task.

[0085] A reachable position determining unit 440 is used to determine whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the to-be-supplemented travel area;

[0086] Control unit 460: used to control the self-propelled device to reach a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented in response to the existence of the reachable position, and control the self-propelled device to try to enter the travel area to be supplemented to perform operations in the travel area to be supplemented.

[0087] In some embodiments, the control unit 460 is further configured to control the self-propelled device to give up entering the travel area to be supplemented in response to the absence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented.

[0088] In some embodiments, the determining of the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information; wherein the data information includes environmental data information acquired by the self-propelled device in the process of completing the current operation task, and the environmental data information includes, for example, at least one or any combination of structured light point cloud information, laser ranging information, and image information. The travel area to be supplemented determination unit 440 is configured to determine the side of the obstacle facing away from the arrived area as the travel area to be supplemented in response to judging that the obstacle is a passable obstacle according to the environmental data information, for example, including a threshold and / or a carpet edge, and the obstacle is located at the boundary position of the travel area reached by the self-propelled device in the current operation task.

[0089] In some embodiments, the determining of the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information; wherein the data information includes data information of historical work tasks recorded by the self-propelled device, and the data information of the historical work tasks includes: historical map information and / or historical navigation information. The travel area to be supplemented determination unit 440 is configured to determine that the travel area reached by the current work task does not include the partial area reached by the historical work task in response to judging from the data information of the historical work task that the travel area reached by the current work task does not include the partial area reached by the historical work task, and determine that the partial area is the travel area to be supplemented.

[0090] In some embodiments, the reachable position determination unit 440 is configured to determine an adjacent portion of the traveled area that is adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, and in response to the adjacent portion and the travel area to be supplemented having only passable obstacles at the junction, determine the adjacent portion as the reachable position.

[0091] In some embodiments, the control unit 460 is configured to ignore the passable obstacle at the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented, and control the self-propelled device to move toward the travel area to be supplemented through the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented.

[0092] In some embodiments, there are multiple reachable positions, and the control unit 460 is configured to select reachable positions in a predetermined order and control the self-propelled device to try to enter the travel area to be supplemented.

[0093] By using the navigation device described in the embodiment of the present invention to navigate and control the self-propelled device, the area to be re-cleaned can be detected through environmental data information and / or data information of historical work tasks, and it can be confirmed whether the area to be re-cleaned is reachable, providing a basis for subsequent cleaning operations and improving the cleaning coverage rate.

[0094] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions, wherein the computer program instructions implement any of the above method steps when called and executed by a processor.

[0095] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a self-propelled device 100, such as a sweeping robot, including a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores computer program instructions that can be executed by the processor, and when the processor executes the computer program instructions, the method steps of any of the aforementioned embodiments are implemented.

[0096] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the electronic structure of the self-propelled device provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure, such as Figure 5 As shown, the self-propelled device may include a processing device (e.g., a central processing unit, a graphics processor, etc.) 501, which can perform various appropriate actions and processes according to a program stored in a read-only memory (ROM) 502 or a program loaded from a storage device 508 to a random access memory (RAM) 503. In RAM 503, various programs and data required for the operation of the electronic robot are also stored. The processing device 501, ROM 502, and RAM 503 are connected to each other via a bus 504. An input / output (I / O) interface 505 is also connected to the bus 504.

[0097] Typically, the following devices may be connected to the I / O interface 505: an input device 506 including, for example, a touch screen, a touch pad, a keyboard, a mouse, a camera, a microphone, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, etc.; an output device 507 including, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a speaker, a vibrator, etc.; a storage device 508 including, for example, a hard disk, etc.; and a communication device 509. The communication device 509 may allow the self-propelled device to communicate with other devices wirelessly or by wire to exchange data. Figure 5 A self-propelled device with various devices is shown, but it should be understood that it is not required to implement or have all the devices shown. More or fewer devices may be implemented or have instead.

[0098] The flow chart and block diagram in the accompanying drawings illustrate the possible architecture, function and operation of the system, method and computer program product according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each square box in the flow chart or block diagram can represent a module, a program segment or a part of a code, and the module, the program segment or a part of the code contains one or more executable instructions for realizing the specified logical function. It should also be noted that in some implementations as replacements, the functions marked in the square box can also occur in a sequence different from that marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two square boxes represented in succession can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in the opposite order, depending on the functions involved. It should also be noted that each square box in the block diagram and / or flow chart, and the combination of the square boxes in the block diagram and / or flow chart can be implemented with a dedicated hardware-based system that performs a specified function or operation, or can be implemented with a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0099] Finally, it should be noted that the various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. For the system or device disclosed in the embodiment, since it corresponds to the method disclosed in the embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the method part description.

[0100] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present disclosure, rather than to limit them. Although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A navigation method, applied to a self-propelled device, characterized in that: The navigation method comprises: After completing the current operation task, determining a travel area to be supplemented based on data information, wherein the data information includes environmental data information acquired by the self-propelled device in the process of completing the current operation task, and / or the data information includes data information of historical operation tasks recorded by the self-propelled device, and the data information of the historical operation tasks includes: historical map information and / or historical navigation information; Determining whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, that is, judging whether there is an entrance or passage to enter the travel area to be supplemented; and In response to the existence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device is controlled to reach the reachable position, and the self-propelled device is controlled to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented to perform operations in the travel area to be supplemented.

2. The navigation method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to the absence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device is controlled to give up entering the travel area to be supplemented.

3. The navigation method according to claim 1, If the obstacle is judged to be a passable obstacle based on the environmental data information, and the obstacle is located at the boundary position of the travel area reached by the self-propelled device in the current operation task, then the side of the obstacle facing away from the reached area is determined to be the travel area to be supplemented.

4. The navigation method according to claim 3, wherein: The environmental data information includes: at least one or any combination of structured light point cloud information, laser ranging information and image information.

5. The navigation method according to claim 1, According to the data information of the historical operation tasks, it is determined that the traveled area reached by the current operation task does not include the partial area reached by the historical operation tasks, and the partial area is determined as the travel area to be supplemented.

6. The navigation method according to claim 3 or 5, wherein: The determining whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented comprises: An adjacent portion of the traveled area adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented is determined, and in response to the fact that a boundary between the adjacent portion and the travel area to be supplemented has only a passable obstacle, the adjacent portion is determined to be the reachable position.

7. The navigation method according to claim 6, wherein: Controlling the self-propelled device to reach the reachable position, and controlling the self-propelled device to attempt to enter the travel area to be supplemented includes: Ignoring the passable obstacle at the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented, the self-propelled device is controlled to travel toward the travel area to be supplemented through the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented.

8. The navigation method according to claim 3, wherein: The traversable obstacles include thresholds and / or carpet edges.

9. The navigation method according to claim 1, wherein: There are multiple reachable positions, and the reachable positions are selected in a predetermined order, and the self-propelled device is controlled to try to enter the travel area to be supplemented.

10. A navigation device, applied to a self-propelled device, characterized in that: The navigation device comprises: a to-be-supplemented travel area determination unit, configured to determine the to-be-supplemented travel area based on data information after the self-propelled device completes the current operation task, wherein the data information includes environmental data information acquired by the self-propelled device in the process of completing the current operation task, and / or the data information includes data information of historical operation tasks recorded by the self-propelled device, and the data information of the historical operation tasks includes: historical map information and / or historical navigation information; a reachable position determination unit, used to determine whether there is a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, that is, to determine whether there is an entrance or passage to enter the travel area to be supplemented; and The control unit is used for controlling the self-propelled device to reach the reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented in response to the existence of the reachable position, and controlling the self-propelled device to try to enter the travel area to be supplemented to perform operations in the travel area to be supplemented.

11. The navigation device according to claim 10, wherein: The control unit is further configured to control the self-propelled device to give up entering the travel area to be supplemented in response to the absence of a reachable position adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented.

12. The navigation device according to claim 10, in, The data information includes environmental data information acquired by the self-propelled device during the completion of the current operation task; The to-be-supplemented travel area determination unit is configured to, in response to judging that an obstacle is a passable obstacle based on environmental data information, and that the obstacle is located at a boundary position of a traveled area that the self-propelled device has reached in the current operation task, determine that the side of the obstacle facing away from the reached area is the to-be-supplemented travel area.

13. The navigation device according to claim 12, wherein: The environmental data information includes: at least one or any combination of structured light point cloud information, laser ranging information and image information.

14. The navigation device according to claim 10, wherein: The determining of the travel area to be supplemented includes: determining the travel area to be supplemented based on data information; Wherein, the data information includes data information of historical operation tasks recorded by the self-propelled device, and the data information of the historical operation tasks includes: historical map information and / or historical navigation information; The to-be-supplemented travel area determination unit is configured to determine the partial area as the to-be-supplemented travel area in response to judging, based on the data information of the historical work tasks, that the traveled area reached by the current work task does not include the partial area reached by the historical work task.

15. The navigation device according to claim 12 or 14, wherein: The reachable position determination unit is configured to determine an adjacent portion of the traveled area adjacent to the travel area to be supplemented, and in response to there being only passable obstacles at the junction of the adjacent portion and the travel area to be supplemented, determine the adjacent portion as the reachable position.

16. The navigation device according to claim 15, wherein: The control unit is configured to ignore the passable obstacle at the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented, and control the self-propelled device to travel toward the travel area to be supplemented through the junction of the reachable position and the travel area to be supplemented.

17. The navigation device according to claim 12, wherein: The traversable obstacles include thresholds and / or carpet edges.

18. The navigation device according to claim 10, wherein: There are multiple reachable positions, and the control unit is configured to select the reachable positions in a predetermined order and control the self-propelled device to try to enter the travel area to be supplemented.

19. A self-propelled device, comprising a processor and a memory, characterized in that: The memory stores computer program instructions that can be executed by the processor, and when the processor executes the computer program instructions, the method steps according to any one of claims 1 to 9 are implemented.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: Computer program instructions are stored, and when the computer program instructions are called and executed by a processor, the method steps according to any one of claims 1 to 9 are implemented.

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