Mowing control method and autonomous mowing machine

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a mowing control method and an automatic mower. The method obtains load information of a cutting motor of the automatic mower, judges whether the load information satisfies a first preset condition, reduces a driving speed of the automatic mower if yes, then continues to judge whether the load information satisfies the first preset condition, and raises a height of a cutting piece driven by the cutting motor until the load information does not satisfy the first preset condition. In this way, the risk of excessive load of the cutting motor is effectively reduced, and the cutting integrity and neatness of a lawn with high cutting difficulty are improved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application belongs to the technical field of self-moving robots, and particularly relates to a mowing control method and an automatic mower. BACKGROUND

[0002] An automatic mower is a robot that automatically performs a mowing task. The height of a cutting disc of the automatic mower from the ground supporting the robot is a mowing height. In order to facilitate adjustment of the mowing height of the cutting disc, the automatic mower is usually configured with an electric height adjustment mechanism, and a user can set a desired mowing height, and the electric height adjustment mechanism automatically adjusts the cutting disc to the desired height.

[0003] However, the cutting motor of the automatic mower driving the cutting disc to rotate adopts direct current power supply, and the motor torque is relatively small. In actual mowing, the growth conditions of lawns are quite different, and the growth conditions of different areas of the same lawn are also not the same. The lawns with different growth conditions have different resistances to the cutting disc. If the areas of the lawn are dense and high, the resistance to the cutting disc is large, and the high resistance will cause the cutting motor current to be too large, and the cutting motor will be blocked. Not only can the lawn cutting not be completed, but also the lawn will be crushed, and the motor is easy to burn out.

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to improve the prior art to overcome the defects in the prior art. SUMMARY

[0005] Therefore, the present application solves the technical problems of the existing automatic mower that the cutting motor load is large when cutting high and dense lawns, the lawn cutting is not neat, and the cutting quality is poor.

[0006] To solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a mowing control method, comprising:

[0007] S10, controlling the automatic mower to travel at an initial speed v0, and acquiring load information of a cutting motor of the automatic mower;

[0008] S20, judging whether the load information meets a first preset condition;

[0009] S30, if yes, reducing the travel speed of the automatic mower;

[0010] S40, continuously judging whether the load information meets the first preset condition;

[0011] S50, if yes, controlling the height of a cutting part driven by the cutting motor to be raised by Ah, recording the cutting height value of the raised cutting part and the corresponding travel path, and continuing to travel and mow, and returning to step S40.

[0012] In one embodiment, the load information comprises load current information, and the determining whether the load information meets the first preset condition in steps S20 and S40 comprises:

[0013] determining whether the load current information is greater than a first preset threshold value;

[0014] If yes, the load information meets the first preset condition.

[0015] In one embodiment, the reducing the driving speed of the automatic mower in step S30 comprises:

[0016] reducing a current initial speed v0 of the automatic mower by Δv, and the reduced driving speed v1 is v0-Δv.

[0017] In one embodiment, if it is determined that the load information does not meet the first preset condition in step S40, the method further comprises:

[0018] determining whether the load information meets a second preset condition;

[0019] If yes, controlling the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor to return to a preset cutting height value.

[0020] In one embodiment, after the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor is controlled to return to the preset cutting height value, the method further comprises:

[0021] determining whether the load information meets a second preset condition;

[0022] If yes, controlling the automatic mower to return to the initial speed v0 before the reduction to drive.

[0023] In one embodiment, the determining whether the load information meets the second preset condition comprises:

[0024] determining whether the load current information is less than a second preset threshold value;

[0025] If yes, the load information meets the second preset condition, wherein the second preset threshold value is less than the first preset threshold value.

[0026] In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

[0027] controlling the automatic mower to perform re-cutting on the driving path according to the preset cutting height value.

[0028] In one embodiment, the controlling the automatic mower to perform re-cutting on the driving path according to the preset cutting height value comprises:

[0029] control the automatic mower to cut the travel path again in a direction different from the last travel direction.

[0030] In one embodiment, the control the automatic mower to cut the travel path again in a direction different from the last travel direction comprises:

[0031] control the automatic mower to cut the travel path again in a direction opposite to the last travel direction.

[0032] Further, the application also provides an automatic mower comprising:

[0033] a machine body;

[0034] a cutting member arranged on the machine body;

[0035] an electric height adjustment mechanism in driving connection with the cutting member, for driving the cutting member to move relative to the machine body;

[0036] a traveling mechanism arranged on the machine body, for driving the machine body to move;

[0037] a controller arranged on the machine body, electrically connected with the electric height adjustment mechanism and the traveling mechanism, for executing the mowing control method of any of the above embodiments.

[0038] The technical solution provided by the application has the following advantages:

[0039] The mowing control method and the automatic mower provided by the embodiments of the application, by acquiring the load information of the cutting motor of the automatic mower, judging whether the load information satisfies the first preset condition, if yes, reducing the travel speed of the automatic mower, then continuously judging whether the load information satisfies the first preset condition, if yes, raising the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor until the load information does not satisfy the first preset condition. In this way, when the load information satisfies the first preset condition, i.e. the cutting motor is overloaded, the automatic mower first tries to reduce the travel speed of the automatic mower, if the load information still satisfies the first preset condition (the cutting motor is still overloaded) after the reduction, the cutting height of the cutting member is raised, so as to reduce the load of the cutting motor, until the height of the cutting member is raised and the load information does not satisfy the first preset condition, so that the load of the cutting motor is maintained in a normal range, the risk of excessive load of the cutting motor is effectively reduced, and the cutting completeness and neatness of the lawn with large cutting difficulty are improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0040] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the specific embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed to be used in the specific embodiments or prior art description. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can also be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort based on these drawings.

[0041] Figure 1 The flowchart of the mowing control method provided by the first embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0042] Figure 2 The flowchart of the mowing control method provided by the second embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0043] Figure 3 The flowchart of the mowing control method provided by the third embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure.

[0044] Figure 4 The perspective view of the automatic mowing machine provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in the figure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] The technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings, obviously, the described embodiments are some of the embodiments of the present application, not all. In the following, the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings and embodiments. It should be noted that, in the case of no conflict, the embodiments in the present application and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other.

[0046] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second" and the like in the specification and claims of the present application and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily describe a specific order or sequence.

[0047] In the present application, unless otherwise stated, the examples to be introduced next are only a specific example, not as a limitation on the embodiments of the present application must be as follows: specific steps, values, conditions, data, order, etc. Those skilled in the art can use the concept of the present application to construct more embodiments not mentioned in the specification by reading the specification.

[0048] Now, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0049] At present, many family courtyards, especially the family courtyards in Europe and America, usually have gardens, and the gardens are planted with lawns. The family needs to maintain the lawn regularly, so that the height of the lawn is neat and more beautiful. The automatic mower is a kind of robot that automatically mows the lawn in a defined working area, and automatically returns to the charging station to supplement the electric energy, almost without personnel intervention, greatly reducing the labor of people, and more and more popular with family users.

[0050] However, since the automatic mower is powered by direct current, the torque of the cutting motor cannot be made larger, and when cutting the lawn with thick and dense grass, the cutting motor is often overloaded and stalled. When this happens, the cutting part (usually a cutter head) driven by the cutting motor cannot rotate normally, so the lawn cannot be cut, and the upright lawn will be flattened, causing secondary cutting difficulties. After the completion of the entire lawn cutting, there will be several scattered areas of grass that have not been cut, the lawn is not beautiful, and manual secondary cutting is required.

[0051] The embodiment of the application provides a mowing control method, which can well solve the above technical problems.

[0052] Please refer to Figure 1 The first embodiment of the application provides a flow chart of the mowing control method, which is applied to an automatic mower (see Figure 4 ), in the specific implementation, the mowing control method comprises:

[0053] S10, controlling the automatic mower to travel at an initial speed v0, and acquiring load information of a cutting motor of the automatic mower;

[0054] S20, judging whether the load information meets a first preset condition;

[0055] S30, if yes, reducing the travel speed of the automatic mower;

[0056] S40, continuously judging whether the load information meets the first preset condition;

[0057] S50, if yes, controlling the height of the cutting part driven by the cutting motor to be raised by Δh, recording the cutting height value of the raised cutting part and the corresponding travel path and continuing to travel and mow, and returning to step S40.

[0058] The above-mentioned mowing control method is applied to Figure 4The automatic mower 100 shown is taken as an example for detailed description. In specific implementation, the automatic mower 100 includes a machine body 10 and a traveling mechanism 30 arranged on the machine body 10. The automatic mower 100 is further configured with an electric height adjustment mechanism (not shown) and a cutting member (not shown) in transmission connection with the electric height adjustment mechanism. The electric height adjustment mechanism includes a height adjustment motor and a transmission structure. The height adjustment motor drives the cutting member to move relative to the machine body 10 through the transmission structure, so as to change the position of the cutting member from the ground supporting the machine body 10, that is, the cutting height. The automatic mower 100 further includes a controller (not shown) arranged in the machine body 10 and connected with the cutting motor, for controlling the electric height adjustment mechanism to adjust the cutting height of the cutting member. The controller is connected with the traveling mechanism 30, for controlling the rotation of the traveling mechanism 30.

[0059] In initial cutting, the controller controls the traveling mechanism 30 to drive the automatic mower to travel at an initial speed v0. In the process of traveling, the cutting motor drives the cutting member to rotate, so as to cut the passing grass. In the process of driving the cutting member to rotate by the cutting motor, the load information of the cutting motor is acquired, so as to facilitate the acquisition of the load state of the cutting motor.

[0060] In step S10, the acquisition of the load information of the cutting motor of the automatic mower is in a periodic sampling manner, which can be fixed periodic sampling or variable periodic sampling. That is, the load information of the cutting motor of the automatic mower is periodically collected in the process of controlling the automatic mower to travel at the initial speed v0.

[0061] The method provided in the embodiment judges whether the cutting motor is overloaded by judging whether the load information meets a first preset condition. The first preset condition is pre-set and can be understood as a critical condition between the normal load and the overload state of the cutting motor. If the load information meets the first preset condition, it is considered that the cutting motor is overloaded. If the first preset condition is not met, it is considered that the load of the cutting motor is normal. The first preset condition is different according to the type of the collected load information.

[0062] In some embodiments, the load information is the load current information of the cutting motor, and the first preset condition includes a first preset threshold. The judgment of whether the load information meets the first preset condition includes: judging whether the load current information is greater than the first preset threshold; if yes, the load information meets the first preset condition.

[0063] In other embodiments, the load information can also be the power information of the cutting motor. The judgment of whether the load information meets the first preset condition includes: judging whether the power information of the cutting motor is greater than a first preset power threshold; if yes, the load information meets the first preset condition.

[0064] In this embodiment, if the load information satisfies the first preset condition, i.e., the cutting motor is in an overload state, step S30 is performed to reduce the driving speed of the automatic mower, so that the current driving speed is lower than the initial driving speed v0. On this basis, step S40 is performed to continue to determine whether the load information satisfies the first preset condition. If the first preset condition is still satisfied, i.e., the cutting motor is still overloaded after the driving speed is reduced, it indicates that the lawn being cut is relatively thick or dense, and the cutting difficulty is relatively large. At this time, step S50 is performed to control the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor to be increased by Δh, record the cutting height value of the cutting member after the height is increased, and continue to drive and mow, and return to step S40 until the load information no longer satisfies the first preset condition, i.e., the load of the cutting motor is in a normal range.

[0065] In the initial cutting, the height of the cutting member of the cutting motor is a preset cutting height value, i.e., the lawn cutting height desired by the user. The target of the automatic mower is to uniformly cut the height of the entire lawn to the preset cutting height value. It can be understood that the preset cutting height value cannot be cut at one time by increasing the height of the cutting member. Therefore, the automatic mower records the cutting height value after the height is increased and the corresponding driving path, so as to facilitate secondary cutting of the driving path in the next cutting.

[0066] The cutting control method provided in this embodiment determines whether the load information of the automatic mower satisfies the first preset condition. When the load information satisfies the first preset condition, i.e., the cutting motor is overloaded, the driving speed of the automatic mower is first reduced. If the load information still satisfies the first preset condition (the cutting motor is still overloaded) after the driving speed is reduced, the cutting height of the cutting member is increased, so that the load of the cutting motor is reduced, until the load information no longer satisfies the first preset condition after the height of the cutting member is increased, so that the load of the cutting motor is maintained in a normal range, thereby effectively reducing the risk of excessive load of the cutting motor. By first reducing the driving speed, the probability of directly increasing the cutting height value and requiring re-cutting of the cutting area is reduced, the cutting efficiency is relatively improved, and the cutting integrity and neatness of the lawn with large cutting difficulty are improved by the combination of the two load reduction methods.

[0067] In some embodiments, the "reducing the driving speed of the automatic mower" in step S30 specifically includes the following contents:

[0068] The current initial speed v0 of the automatic mower is reduced by Δv, and the driving speed v1 after the reduction is v0-Δv.

[0069] That is, the driving speed of the automatic mower is reduced in steps, and the driving speed is reduced by Δv at one time, and the driving speed after the reduction is v0-Δv.

[0070] It can be understood that when the automatic mower cuts according to the raised cutting height value, it is necessary to cut the cutting area twice because the preset cutting height value cannot be completed at one time, which inevitably prolongs the time of the automatic mower cutting the entire lawn. In the actual mowing environment, the growth of the lawn is uneven, and many of the lush and robust lawns are scattered. When the automatic mower drives onto the lawn with less cutting difficulty, if the raised cutting height or the reduced driving speed is still used, it will lead to the disadvantageous prolongation of the cutting time and the significant reduction of the cutting efficiency.

[0071] In order to balance the cutting efficiency and cutting neatness, in some embodiments, referring to Figure 2 As shown in the figure, if it is judged that the load information does not meet the first preset condition in step S40, the method further comprises:

[0072] S60, judging whether the load information meets the second preset condition;

[0073] S70, if yes, controlling the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor to return to the preset cutting height value.

[0074] When step S40 is executed, the speed of the automatic mower is the reduced driving speed, but the cutting height of the cutting member may be raised or not, that is, it is still the preset cutting height value. Regardless of which cutting height value is above, after judging that the load information meets the second preset condition, the driving member of the cutting motor is controlled to return to the preset cutting height value. That is to say, when the cutting height value is higher than the preset cutting height value, the cutting member is controlled to be lowered to the preset cutting height value, and if the cutting height value is equal to the preset cutting height value, the current preset cutting height value is maintained. Therefore, in the above step of "controlling the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor to return to the preset cutting height value", the height of the cutting member may change or remain unchanged.

[0075] In some embodiments, referring to Figure 3 As shown in the figure, after controlling the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor to return to the preset cutting height value, the method further comprises:

[0076] S80, judging whether the load information meets the second preset condition;

[0077] S90, if yes, controlling the automatic mower to return to the initial speed v0 before reduction for driving.

[0078] When the cutting height of the cutting motor is ensured to be the preset cutting height value, the load information is kept detecting, and if the load information still satisfies the second preset condition, it is considered that the load of the cutting motor is small, at this time, the initial driving speed v0 of the automatic mower is tried to be restored, so that the automatic mower drives at the normal driving speed, thereby ensuring the cutting efficiency.

[0079] It should be noted that after the initial driving speed v0 is restored, the automatic mower still keeps detecting the load current of the cutting motor and judges the relationship between the load current and the first preset threshold, if the load current is greater than the first preset threshold, the driving speed of the automatic mower is reduced, that is, the mowing control method provided in the above embodiments of the application is still executed.

[0080] In specific embodiments, the second preset condition includes a second preset threshold, and the judgment of whether the load information satisfies the second preset condition specifically includes:

[0081] judging whether the load current information is less than the second preset threshold;

[0082] If yes, the load information satisfies the second preset condition, wherein the second preset threshold is less than the first preset threshold.

[0083] When the load current information of the cutting motor is lower than the second preset current threshold, it is considered that the load of the cutting motor is small, and the cutting motor can bear a larger load, in this case, in order to shorten the cutting time and improve the cutting efficiency, the height of the cutting member is tried to be restored to the preset cutting height, thereby ensuring that the cutting is completed once and the working area does not need to be cut again.

[0084] In order to ensure the cutting efficiency, in specific embodiments, the method further includes:

[0085] controlling the automatic mower to cut the driving path again at the preset cutting height value.

[0086] The automatic mower can determine whether to perform the re-cutting of the covered cutting area according to the size of the cutting area of the raised cutting member. That is, when the automatic mower completes the cutting of the preset area at the raised cutting height value, the automatic mower is controlled to cut the preset area again, and this time the cutting is still started at the preset cutting height value, and the mowing control method described in the above embodiments is executed during the cutting process.

[0087] In other implementation scenarios, the automatic mower can also determine whether to perform re-cutting of the covered cutting area according to the cutting time of the raised cutting member. That is, after the automatic mower performs cutting for a preset time period at the raised cutting height value, the automatic mower is controlled to perform re-cutting on the cutting area covered in the preset time period. Correspondingly, this time of cutting still starts at the preset cutting height value, and the cutting control method described in the above embodiments is performed in the cutting process.

[0088] Since the height of the cutting member is raised each time, the cutting motor is in an overload state for a certain period of time, and the cutting member may be pressed down on the lawn. In order to improve the effective cutting of the pressed-down lawn during re-cutting, in some specific embodiments, the control of the automatic mower to perform re-cutting on the driving path at the preset cutting height value comprises:

[0089] Controlling the automatic mower to perform re-cutting on the driving path in a direction different from the last driving direction.

[0090] Performing re-cutting on the driving path in a direction different from the last driving direction is beneficial to pushing the lawn in the vertical direction by the contact of the cutting member with the lawn at different angles, so as to more effectively cut the pressed-down lawn. That is, controlling the rotation direction of the cutting member to be inconsistent with the direction of the pressed-down lawn facilitates the use of the rotation of the cutting member and the air flow to make the pressed-down lawn tend to be vertical, thereby facilitating the cutting of the cutting member.

[0091] Specifically, the control of the automatic mower to perform re-cutting on the driving path in a direction different from the last driving direction comprises:

[0092] Controlling the automatic mower to perform re-cutting on the driving path in a direction opposite to the last driving direction.

[0093] If the driving direction of the automatic mower during re-cutting is opposite to the driving direction during the first coverage, since the rotation direction of the cutting member does not change, the rotation direction of the cutting member during re-cutting is opposite to the direction of the pressed-down lawn during the first coverage. The rotation of the cutting member is more beneficial to the verticality of the lawn, thereby more effectively cutting the pressed-down lawn.

[0094] In addition, please refer to Figure 4 The application also provides an automatic mower 100, comprising a body 10, a cutting member, an electric height adjustment mechanism, a walking mechanism 30, and a controller. The above-mentioned structural parts have been introduced in the embodiment part of the above-mentioned cutting control method, and can be referred to with the embodiment content of the above-mentioned cutting control method. Here, no longer repeated.

[0095] A controller is arranged on the machine body 10 and electrically connected with the electric height adjusting mechanism and the walking mechanism, and is used for executing the mowing control method in any of the above embodiments.

[0096] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, servers or computer program products. Accordingly, the present application can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application can take the form of a computer program product on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk memory and optical memory) having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium.

[0097] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), servers and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that each flow and / or block in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and the combination of the flows and / or blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor or other programmable data processing devices to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the computer or other programmable data processing devices produce a device that implements the functions specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. Figure 1 The functions specified in one flow or multiple flows and / or blocks Figure 1 The devices that implement the functions specified in one flow or multiple flows and / or blocks.

[0098] Obviously, the above described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, other different forms of changes or variations can be made by those skilled in the art without creative labor, and all should belong to the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A mowing control method applied to an automatic mowing machine, characterized by, The method comprises: S10, controlling the automatic mower to travel at an initial speed v0, and acquiring load information of a cutting motor of the automatic mower; S20, determining whether the load information meets a first preset condition; S30, if yes, reducing the travel speed of the automatic mower; S40, continuously determining whether the load information meets the first preset condition; S50, if yes, controlling the height of a cutting member driven by the cutting motor to be raised by Δh, recording the cutting height value of the raised cutting member and the corresponding travel path, and continuing to travel and mow, and returning to step S40; The method further comprises: controlling the automatic mower to re-cut the travel path at a preset cutting height value; wherein the control of the automatic mower to re-cut the travel path at the preset cutting height value comprises: controlling the automatic mower to re-cut the travel path in a direction opposite to the last travel direction.

2. The mowing control method according to claim 1, characterized by, The load information comprises load current information, and in steps S20 and S40, the determination of whether the load information meets the first preset condition comprises: determining whether the load current information is greater than a first preset threshold value; if yes, the load information meets the first preset condition.

3. The mowing control method according to claim 2, characterized by, The reduction of the travel speed of the automatic mower in step S30 comprises: reducing the current initial speed v0 of the automatic mower by Δv, and the reduced travel speed v1 is v0-Δv.

4. The mowing control method according to claim 2, characterized by, In step S40, if it is determined that the load information does not meet the first preset condition, the method further comprises: determining whether the load information meets a second preset condition; if yes, controlling the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor to return to the preset cutting height value.

5. The mowing control method according to claim 4, characterized by, After the height of the cutting member driven by the cutting motor is controlled to return to the preset cutting height value, the method further comprises: determining whether the load information meets the second preset condition; if yes, controlling the automatic mower to travel at the initial speed v0 before the reduction.

6. The grass-cutting control method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized by The determination of whether the load information meets the second preset condition comprises: determining whether the load current information is less than a second preset threshold value; if yes, the load information meets the second preset condition, wherein the second preset threshold value is less than the first preset threshold value.

7. An automatic mower characterized by The mower comprises: a machine body; a cutting member arranged on the machine body; an electric height adjustment mechanism in transmission connection with the cutting member, for driving the cutting member to move relative to the machine body; a walking mechanism arranged on the machine body, for driving the machine body to move; a controller arranged on the machine body, electrically connected with the electric height adjustment mechanism and the walking mechanism, for executing the mowing control method according to any one of claims 1-6.

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