Intelligent snow sweeping method, snow sweeping robot and intelligent snow sweeping device

Abstract

This application discloses an intelligent snow removal method applied to a snow removal robot. The method includes the following steps: obtaining the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-removal area using GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate a snow removal map; wherein the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-removal area have an intersection; the snow removal map is rasterized; the snow removal map is then potential-field-based: starting from the grid cell containing the target snow-throwing area, a breadth-first search algorithm is used to assign potential energy values ​​to the grid cells containing the target snow-removal area in an outward diffusion manner; wherein the potential energy value increases with the increase of the diffusion layer; the snow removal robot is controlled to move grid by grid on the unswept grid cell with the highest current potential energy value to perform snow removal operations on the reached grid cells; until the snow removal robot reaches the target snow-throwing area. The intelligent snow removal method disclosed in this application achieves the goal of cleaning multiple areas with a single setup, improving snow removal efficiency while enhancing the intelligence level of the snow removal robot.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of snow removal equipment technology, and in particular to an intelligent snow removal method, a snow removal robot, and intelligent snow removal equipment. Background Technology

[0002] Existing automatic snowplows generally use UWB (Ultra-Wide Band Tag) wireless carrier communication to locate the snowplow. This method cannot drive the snowplow to clean multiple areas at once, resulting in low snow removal efficiency.

[0003] Technical issues

[0004] Current automatic snowplows cannot clear multiple areas at once, resulting in low snow removal efficiency.

[0005] Technical solutions

[0006] The main purpose of this application is to propose an intelligent snow removal method, which aims to solve the technical problem that the above-mentioned automatic snow removal vehicles cannot clean multiple areas at once and have low snow removal efficiency.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, this application proposes an intelligent snow removal method applied to a snow removal robot, the snow removal robot comprising:

[0008] The movement component is used to move along a planned path;

[0009] A snow collection component is disposed on the traveling component, and the snow collection component is used to collect snow during snow removal operations;

[0010] A snow-throwing component is disposed on the traveling component and connected to the snow-inlet component; the snow-throwing component is used to throw the snow collected by the snow-inlet component to a preset area during snow sweeping operations;

[0011] The intelligent snow removal method includes the following steps:

[0012] The latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area are obtained using GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate a snow-sweeping map; wherein the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area have an intersection.

[0013] Rasterize the snow removal map;

[0014] The snow removal map is transformed into a potential field: starting from the grid cell where the target snow-throwing area is located, the potential energy value is assigned to the grid cell where the target snow removal area is located in a way that diffuses outward through a breadth-first search algorithm; wherein, the potential energy value increases with the increase of the diffusion layer;

[0015] The snow-sweeping robot is controlled to move one grid at a time on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value, and to perform snow-sweeping operations on the grids it reaches; until the snow-sweeping robot moves to the target snow-throwing area.

[0016] Further, after the step of rasterizing the snow removal map, the following steps are included:

[0017] The angle method is used to determine whether each grid is located within the target snow removal area: the line connecting the center point of each grid to each vertex of the target snow removal area is used as the first auxiliary line. It is determined whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point is equal to 360°; if so, the corresponding grid is determined to be located within the target snow removal area.

[0018] Set the grids located within the target snow removal area as snow removal grids; and set the grids located within the target snow throwing area as snow throwing grids;

[0019] The step of assigning potential energy values ​​to the grid cells containing the target snow-spraying area in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the grid cell containing the target snow-spraying area, includes:

[0020] Starting from the snow-throwing grid, the potential energy value is assigned to the snow-sweeping grid in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm.

[0021] Furthermore, the step of obtaining the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-clearing area using GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate a snow-clearing map includes:

[0022] The latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area, the target snow-sweeping area, and the static obstacle area are obtained using GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate the snow-sweeping map.

[0023] After the step of rasterizing the snow removal map, the following steps are included:

[0024] The method of angle determination is used to determine whether each grid cell overlaps with the static obstacle area: the line connecting each grid vertex of each grid cell to each vertex of the static obstacle area is used as a second auxiliary line, and it is determined whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to each grid vertex is equal to 360°; if the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to any grid vertex of any grid cell is equal to 360°, then it is determined that the corresponding grid cell overlaps with the static obstacle area;

[0025] Grids that overlap with the static obstacle area are designated as static obstacle grids;

[0026] Before the step of assigning potential energy values ​​to the snow-sweeping grid in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the snow-throwing grid, the following steps are included:

[0027] Determine whether there is a static obstacle grid in the snow removal grid; if so, remove the static obstacle grid from the snow removal grid.

[0028] Further, the step of determining whether the sum of the angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point of each grid and each vertex of the target snow-sweeping area is equal to 360°, using the line connecting the center point of each grid to each vertex of the target snow-sweeping area as a first auxiliary line, includes:

[0029] Determine whether the center point satisfies the following formula:

[0030]

[0031] Where O represents the coordinates of the center point, P i P j Represents the coordinates of two adjacent vertices in the target snow-clearing area. In this context, the superscript represents a vector symbol, and Z represents the set of integers;

[0032] If the condition is met, then the sum of the included angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point is determined to be equal to 360°.

[0033] Further, the step of determining whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to each of the grid vertices and the vertices of the static obstacle region, using the line connecting each grid vertex to each vertex of the grid as a second auxiliary line, includes:

[0034] Determine whether the grid vertices satisfy the following formula:

[0035]

[0036] Where D represents the coordinates of the grid vertex, P i P j Represents the coordinates of two adjacent vertices in the static obstacle region. In this context, the superscript represents a vector symbol, and Z represents the set of integers;

[0037] If the condition is met, then the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to the grid vertex is determined to be equal to 360°.

[0038] Furthermore, the step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to move grid by grid on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value to perform snow-sweeping operations on the reached grid includes:

[0039] After the snow-sweeping robot completes the snow-sweeping operation on a snow-sweeping grid, it searches within a preset range, centered on the snow-sweeping robot, for a first target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located; wherein, the first target snow-sweeping grid is in an uncleaned state;

[0040] If there is a first target snow-sweeping grid within the preset range whose potential energy value is greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then the snow-sweeping robot is controlled to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid in order to perform snow-sweeping operation on the first target snow-sweeping grid.

[0041] If there is no first target snow-sweeping grid within the preset range whose potential energy value is greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then with the snow-sweeping robot as the center, a search is conducted within the preset range to find a second target snow-sweeping grid whose potential energy value is less than the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located; wherein, the second target snow-sweeping grid is in an uncleaned state;

[0042] If there is a second target snow-sweeping grid within the preset range whose potential energy value is less than that of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then the snow-sweeping robot is controlled to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid in order to perform snow-sweeping operation on the second target snow-sweeping grid.

[0043] Further, after the step of searching within a preset range, centered on the snow-sweeping robot, for the existence of a second target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid currently occupied by the snow-sweeping robot, the process includes:

[0044] If there is no second target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located within the preset range, then the snow-sweeping robot is used as the center to search for whether there is a snow-throwing grid within the preset range.

[0045] If there are snow-throwing grids within the preset range, then search the snow removal map to see if there are any undisturbed third target snow removal grids.

[0046] If the third target snow removal grid exists in the snow removal map, the snow removal robot is controlled by the D*Lite algorithm to move along the snow removal grid to the third target snow removal grid with the highest potential energy value, so as to perform snow removal operation on the third target snow removal grid.

[0047] After the snow-sweeping robot completes the snow-sweeping operation on the third target snow-sweeping grid, the step of searching within a preset range with the snow-sweeping robot as the center to see if there is a first target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located is repeated.

[0048] Furthermore, the step of performing snow removal on the reached grid includes:

[0049] Snow is collected through the snow inlet assembly;

[0050] Determine whether the snow-throwing grid exists within the preset range;

[0051] If the snow-throwing grid does not exist within the preset range, the snow-sweeping grid with the lowest potential energy value and in an uncleaned state within the preset range shall be taken as the actual snow-throwing grid.

[0052] If the snow-throwing grid exists within the preset range, the snow-throwing grid shall be used as the actual snow-throwing grid.

[0053] The snow-throwing direction of the snow-throwing component is directed toward the actual snow-throwing grid.

[0054] Furthermore, an uncleaned mark is set on the snow-throwing grid and on the snow-sweeping grid where the snow-sweeping robot has not performed snow-sweeping operations; and a cleaned mark is set on the snow-sweeping grid where the snow-sweeping robot has completed snow-sweeping operations.

[0055] Furthermore, the traveling component is equipped with a millimeter-wave radar sensing device;

[0056] The step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid, and to perform snow-sweeping operations on the first target snow-sweeping grid, includes:

[0057] As the snow-sweeping robot moves toward the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid, the millimeter-wave radar sensing device performs dynamic obstacle detection on the path of travel.

[0058] If the millimeter-wave radar sensor detects a dynamic obstacle in front of the snow-sweeping robot, it controls the snow-sweeping robot to stop moving.

[0059] The millimeter-wave radar sensing device acquires dynamic obstacle information, and marks the grids that overlap with the dynamic obstacles as dynamic obstacle grids.

[0060] Remove the dynamic obstacle grid from the snow removal grid, and repeat the step of searching within a preset range, centered on the snow removal robot, for a first target snow removal grid whose potential energy value is greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow removal robot is currently located.

[0061] Furthermore, the traveling component is equipped with a millimeter-wave radar sensing device;

[0062] The step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to travel along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid, and to perform snow-sweeping operations on the second target snow-sweeping grid, includes:

[0063] As the snow-sweeping robot moves toward the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid, the millimeter-wave radar sensing device performs dynamic obstacle detection on the path of travel.

[0064] If the millimeter-wave radar sensor detects a dynamic obstacle in front of the snow-sweeping robot, it controls the snow-sweeping robot to stop moving.

[0065] The millimeter-wave radar sensing device acquires dynamic obstacle information, and marks the grids that overlap with the dynamic obstacles as dynamic obstacle grids.

[0066] Remove the dynamic obstacle grid from the snow removal grid, and repeat the step of searching within a preset range, centered on the snow removal robot, for a second target snow removal grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid where the snow removal robot is currently located.

[0067] Further, the step of directing the snow-throwing direction of the snow-throwing component toward the actual snow-throwing grid includes:

[0068] The first relative position information between the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located and the actual snow-throwing grid is obtained by GPS-RTK positioning technology;

[0069] The snow-throwing angle of the snow-throwing component is adjusted according to the first relative position information.

[0070] Further, the snow-throwing assembly includes a snow-throwing drive device, a first rotary drive device, a second rotary drive device, a first snow-throwing tube, and a second snow-throwing tube; the first snow-throwing tube is rotatably connected to the traveling assembly along a vertical axis, and the second snow-throwing tube is rotatably connected to the first snow-throwing tube along a horizontal axis; one end of the first snow-throwing tube is connected to the snow-inlet assembly, and the other end of the first snow-throwing tube is connected to one end of the second snow-throwing tube; the snow-throwing drive device is disposed between one end of the first snow-throwing tube and the snow-inlet assembly, the first rotary drive device is connected to the first snow-throwing tube, and the second rotary drive device is connected to the second snow-throwing tube; the snow-throwing drive device is used to push the snow collected by the snow-inlet assembly into the first snow-throwing tube, and finally throw the snow out from the other end of the second snow-throwing tube;

[0071] The step of obtaining the first relative position information between the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located and the actual snow-throwing grid using GPS-RTK positioning technology includes:

[0072] The coordinates of the first center point of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located and the coordinates of the second center point of the actual snow-throwing grid are obtained through GPS-RTK positioning technology. The horizontal line connecting the coordinates of the first center point and the coordinates of the second center point is used as the adjustment baseline, and the length of the adjustment baseline is obtained.

[0073] The first snow-throwing tube is driven to rotate by the first rotary drive device so that the horizontal angle between the orientation of the other end of the second snow-throwing tube on the horizontal plane and the adjustment baseline is less than the first preset angle.

[0074] The snow-throwing angle is calculated based on the length of the adjustment baseline; and the second snow-throwing tube is driven to rotate by the second rotary drive device so that the vertical angle between the orientation of the other end of the second snow-throwing tube in the vertical plane and the adjustment baseline is equal to the snow-throwing angle.

[0075] Furthermore, the snow-inlet assembly includes a snow-inlet channel, a snow shovel, a snow-inlet drive device, a lifting mechanism, an image sensor, and an image processing module; the snow-inlet channel is connected to the snow-throwing assembly, the lifting mechanism is connected to the snow-inlet channel, the snow shovel is disposed at the snow inlet of the snow-inlet channel, the snow-inlet drive device is connected to the snow shovel, the image sensor is disposed in the snow-inlet channel, and the image processing module is electrically connected to the image sensor and the lifting mechanism;

[0076] The step of performing snow removal on the reached grid includes:

[0077] The snowplow is driven by the snow inlet drive device to cut the external snow and continuously feed the external snow into the snow inlet channel;

[0078] The image sensor acquires the snow entry image of the snow entry channel and transmits the snow entry image to the image processing module.

[0079] The image processing module determines whether the proportion of snow in the snow-incoming image exceeds a first preset proportion threshold, and whether the proportion of snow in the snow-incoming image is lower than a second preset proportion threshold; wherein, the first preset proportion threshold is higher than the second preset proportion threshold.

[0080] If the first preset ratio threshold is exceeded, the snow inlet channel will be driven to rise by the lifting mechanism.

[0081] If the snow level is below the second preset threshold, the snow inlet channel will be lowered by the lifting mechanism.

[0082] Furthermore, an infrared sensor is provided at the snow inlet, and the infrared sensor is electrically connected to the snow inlet drive device.

[0083] After the step of driving the snowplow to cut the external snow through the snow-inlet drive device and continuously feeding the external snow into the snow-inlet channel, the following steps are included:

[0084] The temperature signal at the snow inlet is obtained through the infrared sensing device.

[0085] When the fluctuation value of the temperature signal exceeds the preset temperature threshold, the snow inlet drive device is controlled to stop operating.

[0086] Furthermore, the snow shovel is made of rubber.

[0087] This application also provides a snow removal robot that operates using the above-described intelligent snow removal method, the snow removal robot comprising:

[0088] The positioning module is used to obtain the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area through GPS-RTK positioning technology in order to generate a snow-sweeping map;

[0089] A rasterization module is used to rasterize the snow removal map;

[0090] Potential fieldization module: Used to assign potential energy values ​​to the grid where the target snow-throwing area is located in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the grid where the target snow-throwing area is located.

[0091] The drive module is used to control the snow-sweeping robot to move one grid at a time on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value, so as to perform snow-sweeping operations on the grids it reaches.

[0092] This application also provides an intelligent snow removal device, which includes a controller and a memory. The memory stores at least one instruction or at least one program. The at least one instruction or the at least one program is loaded and executed by the controller to realize the intelligent snow removal method described above.

[0093] Beneficial effects

[0094] This application provides an intelligent snow removal method. A snow removal map is generated using GPS-RTK positioning technology and then gridded. A breadth-first search algorithm is then used to convert each grid into a potential field. Based on this setup, the snow removal robot can be controlled to move grid by grid on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value to perform snow removal operations on the reached grid. This achieves the goal of cleaning multiple areas with a single setup, improving snow removal efficiency while enhancing the intelligence level of the snow removal robot. Attached Figure Description

[0095] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application;

[0096] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the first potential field of the grid in one embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application;

[0097] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the first path planning of a snow-sweeping robot in one embodiment of the intelligent snow-sweeping method of this application;

[0098] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the second path planning of a snow-sweeping robot in one embodiment of the intelligent snow-sweeping method of this application;

[0099] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the second potential field of the grid in one embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application;

[0100] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the third path planning of a snow-sweeping robot in one embodiment of the intelligent snow-sweeping method of this application;

[0101] Figure 7 This is a first schematic diagram of an embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application, which uses the angle method to determine the snow removal grid.

[0102] Figure 8 This is a second schematic diagram illustrating the use of the angle method to determine the snow sweeping grid in one embodiment of the intelligent snow sweeping method of this application;

[0103] Figure 9This is a first schematic diagram of an embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application, which uses the angle method to determine the static obstacle grid.

[0104] Figure 10 This is a second schematic diagram illustrating the use of the angle method to determine the static obstacle grid in one embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application;

[0105] Figure 11 This is a third schematic diagram illustrating the use of the angle method to determine static obstacle grids in one embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application;

[0106] Figure 12 This is a fourth schematic diagram illustrating the use of the angle method to determine static obstacle grids in one embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application;

[0107] Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of defining the adjustment baseline in one embodiment of the intelligent snow removal method of this application;

[0108] Figure 14 This is a schematic diagram of the snow-throwing component of a snow-sweeping robot in one embodiment of the intelligent snow-sweeping method of this application;

[0109] Figure 15 This is a structural schematic diagram of the snow removal robot of this application.

[0110] Explanation of icon numbers:

[0111] 1-First snow thrower, 2-Second snow thrower, 3-First rotary drive device, 4-Second rotary drive device.

[0112] Implementation methods of this application

[0113] One embodiment of this application provides an intelligent snow removal method applied to a snow removal robot. Please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 1 The snow-sweeping robot includes:

[0114] The movement component is used to move along a planned path;

[0115] A snow collection component is disposed on the traveling component, and the snow collection component is used to collect snow during snow removal operations;

[0116] A snow-throwing component is disposed on the traveling component and connected to the snow-inlet component; the snow-throwing component is used to throw the snow collected by the snow-inlet component to a preset area during snow sweeping operations;

[0117] The intelligent snow removal method includes the following steps:

[0118] S1, obtain the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area through GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate a snow-sweeping map; wherein, the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area have an intersection;

[0119] S2, rasterize the snow removal map;

[0120] S3, the snow removal map is transformed into a potential field: starting from the grid cell where the target snow-throwing area is located, the potential energy value is assigned to the grid cell where the target snow removal area is located in a way that diffuses outward through a breadth-first search algorithm; wherein, the potential energy value increases with the increase of the diffusion layer;

[0121] S4, control the snow removal robot to move one grid at a time on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value, so as to perform snow removal operation on the grid that it reaches; until the snow removal robot moves to the target snow throwing area.

[0122] In this embodiment, the traveling component may include a chassis and traveling wheels or tracks mounted on the chassis. The traveling wheels or tracks can be driven by a power device, which can convert energy such as electrical energy or thermal energy into mechanical energy for driving. The snow-collecting component may include a snowplow and a matching drive device. The drive device can drive the snowplow to cut the snow in the target snow-collecting area and continuously push the cut snow towards the snow-throwing component through the movement of the snowplow. The snow-throwing component may include a snow-throwing tube and a matching drive device. The drive device can continuously throw the snow pushed by the snow-collecting component into the snow-throwing tube. The snow-throwing tube restricts the direction of snow discharge through the orientation of its internal channels. The snow can ultimately be guided by the snow-throwing tube and thrown at a preset angle into the target snow-throwing area without affecting the normal travel of pedestrians and vehicles, thereby achieving the purpose of clearing snow and preventing snow from blocking the road.

[0123] In existing technologies, UWB (Ultra-Wide Band Tag) wireless carrier communication is commonly used for snowplow positioning. Specifically, three tagged mobile base stations serve as signal transmitters, forming an electronic fence; the snowplow's positioning pole acts as the signal receiver. By acquiring the location information of the mobile base station tagged points, combined with the snowplow's current speed, angular velocity, and orientation, the coordinates of the snowplow at a designated location are calculated. The snowplow's internal program can then use this coordinate information, combined with a path planning algorithm, to achieve automatic snow removal. The limitations of this technology are its small snow removal area (typically limited to a 28m x 28m area), and the requirement of three tagged mobile base stations as an electronic fence, while a single snow removal plan can only clear the area enclosed by one electronic fence. Therefore, if the user needs to clear multiple areas, the mobile base stations must be moved, making it impossible to complete multiple snow removal plans with a single setup.

[0124] To address the aforementioned deficiencies in existing technologies, this embodiment provides an intelligent snow removal method. Specifically, GPS-RTK positioning technology, a current technology, enables precise positioning of snow removal robots through satellites and signal-assisted base stations. This involves adapting the snow removal robot's internal algorithm to the location signals returned by GPS-RTK, thereby allowing the setting of target snow-throwing and snow-removal areas within satellite coverage areas. This results in an accurate snow removal map with latitude and longitude coordinates, overcoming the limitations of current positioning methods on the snow removal area.

[0125] After obtaining the snow removal map, it can be divided into multiple grids, and a corresponding potential energy value can be assigned to each grid using a breadth-first search (BFS) algorithm. Figure 2 As shown in the example, the potential energy value of the grid cell containing the target snow-throwing area can be set to 0. Each time a layer is diffused outward from the target snow-throwing area (i.e., a layer is diffused towards the target snow-sweeping area), the potential energy value of the corresponding grid cell is increased by 1, ultimately forming a structure like... Figure 2 The potential energy distribution image is shown.

[0126] After the aforementioned potential field formation operation is completed, the snow removal robot can be controlled to start from any unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value (i.e., an unswept grid with a potential energy value of 8). Once the snow removal robot has finished sweeping that grid, it will become cleared (an electronic marker can be set at the corresponding location on the snow removal map to distinguish it from grids in an unswept state). At this point, the snow removal robot will move to the next unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value (which could be an unswept grid with a potential energy value of 8 adjacent to the previous grid) and perform snow removal. It can be understood that after the snow removal robot has swept all grids with a potential energy value of 8, the "unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value" becomes an unswept grid with a potential energy value of 7. The snow removal robot will then move to an unswept grid with a potential energy value of 7 adjacent to its current grid to repeat the above sweeping and cruising operations. Based on the above path planning method, the snow removal robot's path will be as follows: Figure 3 As shown, once the snow-sweeping robot has completed the snow-sweeping operation for all grids with a potential energy value of 1, the next moving target of the snow-sweeping robot can only be the grid where the target snow-throwing area is located with a potential energy value of 0. That is, the snow-sweeping robot has already completed the snow-sweeping operation for all grids where the target snow-sweeping area is located at this time.

[0127] Optionally, as the snow-sweeping robot moves along the grid, the snow-throwing component always throws snow towards the uncleaned grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, so that it can be cleaned later; this can avoid accidentally throwing snow onto the already cleaned grid and ruining the snow-sweeping effect.

[0128] Further, please refer to Figure 7 and Figure 8 In one exemplary embodiment, after the step of rasterizing the snow removal map, the following steps are included:

[0129] S21, determine whether each grid is located within the target snow removal area by angle method: take the line connecting the center point of each grid to each vertex of the target snow removal area as the first auxiliary line, and determine whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point is equal to 360°; if so, determine that the corresponding grid is located within the target snow removal area.

[0130] S22, set the grid located within the target snow removal area as a snow removal grid; and set the grid located within the target snow throwing area as a snow throwing grid;

[0131] The step of assigning potential energy values ​​to the grid cells containing the target snow-spraying area in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the grid cell containing the target snow-spraying area, includes:

[0132] S31, starting from the snow-throwing grid, the potential energy value is assigned to the snow-sweeping grid in an outward diffusion manner through a breadth-first search algorithm.

[0133] After rasterizing the snow removal map, it is necessary to determine whether each grid cell is located within the target snow removal area. For details, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 7 On the horizontal projection plane, the lines connecting the center point O of the grid to the five vertices P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5 of the target snow-sweeping area (i.e., the first auxiliary lines) are OP1, OP2, OP3, OP4, and OP5, respectively. The five included angles between these five first auxiliary lines are ∠P1OP2, ∠P2OP3, ∠P3OP4, ∠P4OP5, and ∠P5OP1, respectively, and the sum of the included angles is equal to 360°. Thus, it can be determined that the grid is located within the target snow-sweeping area (i.e., the grid is set as a snow-sweeping grid); refer to... Figure 8 On the horizontal projection plane, the lines connecting the center point O of the grid to the five vertices P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5 of the target snow removal area (i.e., the first auxiliary lines) are OP1, OP2, OP3, OP4, and OP5, respectively. The four included angles between these five first auxiliary lines are ∠P1OP5, ∠P5OP4, ∠P4OP3, and ∠P3OP2, respectively. The sum of the included angles is less than 360°, so it can be determined that the grid is not within the target snow removal area.

[0134] After determining all the snow-sweeping grids using the above method, a basis can be provided for subsequent potential field operations, so as to define the path for the snow-sweeping robot to move in the target snow-sweeping area.

[0135] Further, please refer to Figure 7and Figure 8 In an exemplary embodiment, the step of determining whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point of each grid and each vertex of the target snow-sweeping area is equal to 360°, using the line connecting the center point of each grid to each vertex of the target snow-sweeping area as a first auxiliary line, includes:

[0136] S211, determine whether the center point satisfies the following formula:

[0137]

[0138] Where O represents the coordinates of the center point, P i P j Represents the coordinates of two adjacent vertices in the target snow-clearing area. In this context, the superscript represents a vector symbol, and Z represents the set of integers;

[0139] S212, if satisfied, then the sum of the included angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point is determined to be equal to 360°.

[0140] O, P i P j The coordinates can be obtained through GPS-RTK positioning technology. Based on the above vector cross product method, it is easy to determine whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point of the grid is equal to 360°, thereby quickly determining the snow sweeping grid.

[0141] Further, please refer to Figure 4 , Figures 9 to 12 In an exemplary embodiment, the step of obtaining the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-clearing area using GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate a snow-clearing map includes:

[0142] S11, obtain the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow throwing area, the target snow clearing area, and the static obstacle area through GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate the snow clearing map;

[0143] After the step of rasterizing the snow removal map, the following steps are included:

[0144] S23, determine whether each grid overlaps with the static obstacle area using the angle method: take the line connecting each grid vertex of each grid to each vertex of the static obstacle area as a second auxiliary line, and determine whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to each grid vertex is equal to 360°; if the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to any grid vertex of any grid is equal to 360°, then it is determined that the corresponding grid overlaps with the static obstacle area;

[0145] S24, the grid that overlaps with the static obstacle area is set as a static obstacle grid;

[0146] Before the step of assigning potential energy values ​​to the snow-sweeping grid in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the snow-throwing grid, the following steps are included:

[0147] S03, determine whether there is a static obstacle grid in the snow sweeping grid; if so, remove the static obstacle grid from the snow sweeping grid.

[0148] Static obstacles are obstacles placed at fixed locations within the target snow removal area. After rasterizing the snow removal map, it is necessary to determine the grid cells occupied by static obstacles to prevent the snow removal robot from entering those grid cells and colliding with the static obstacles during subsequent movement. Specifically, on the horizontal projection plane, the lines connecting the four grid vertices D1, D2, D3, D4 of the static obstacle to the five vertices P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 of the static obstacle area (i.e., the second auxiliary lines) are as follows: Figures 9 to 12 As shown; please refer to [the image / document]. Figure 9 The four included angles between the five second auxiliary lines corresponding to the first grid vertex D1 are ∠P1D1P2, ∠P2D1P3, ∠P3D1P4, and ∠P4D1P5, respectively. The sum of these included angles is less than 360°, therefore it can be determined that the first grid vertex D1 is located outside the static obstacle area; please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 10 The four included angles between the five second auxiliary lines corresponding to the second grid vertex D2 are ∠P1D2P2, ∠P2D2P3, ∠P3D2P4, and ∠P4D2P5, respectively. The sum of these included angles is less than 360°, therefore it can be determined that the second grid vertex D2 is located outside the static obstacle area; please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 11 The four included angles between the five second auxiliary lines corresponding to the third grid vertex D3 are ∠P1D3P2, ∠P2D3P3, ∠P3D3P4, and ∠P4D3P5, respectively. The sum of these included angles is less than 360°, therefore it can be determined that the third grid vertex D3 is located outside the static obstacle area; please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 12The five included angles between the five second auxiliary lines corresponding to the fourth grid vertex D4 are ∠P1D4P2, ∠P2D4P3, ∠P3D4P4, ∠P4D4P5, and ∠P5D4P1, with a total included angle of 360°. Therefore, it can be determined that the fourth grid vertex D4 is located within the static obstacle area. In summary, since there is a grid vertex located within the static obstacle area (i.e., the aforementioned fourth grid vertex D4), it can be determined that the grid overlaps with the static obstacle area, and the grid is set as a static obstacle grid.

[0149] After identifying all static obstacle grids using the above method, the static obstacle grids present in the snow sweeping grid can be removed, preventing them from participating in subsequent potential fielding operations and thus preventing them from being assigned potential energy values; please refer to Figure 4 The planned path after removing static obstacle grids is such that the snow sweeping robot's travel path is always located on grids with potential energy values. Therefore, the above operation can prevent the snow sweeping robot from entering static obstacle grids and colliding with them, thus realizing the automatic obstacle avoidance function of the snow sweeping robot.

[0150] Further, please refer to Figures 9 to 12 In an exemplary embodiment, the step of determining whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to each grid vertex and each vertex of the static obstacle region is equal to 360°, using the line connecting each grid vertex to each vertex of the static obstacle region as a second auxiliary line, includes:

[0151] S231, determine whether the grid vertices satisfy the following formula:

[0152]

[0153] Where D represents the coordinates of the grid vertex, P i P j Represents the coordinates of two adjacent vertices in the static obstacle region. In this context, the superscript represents a vector symbol, and Z represents the set of integers;

[0154] S232, if satisfied, then determine that the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines in all second auxiliary lines corresponding to the grid vertex is equal to 360°.

[0155] D, P i P j The coordinates can be obtained through GPS-RTK positioning technology. Based on the above vector cross product method, it is easy to determine whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to all second auxiliary lines of the grid vertex is equal to 360°, thereby quickly determining the static obstacle grid.

[0156] Further, please refer to Figures 2 to 6 In one exemplary embodiment, the step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to move grid by grid on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value to perform snow-sweeping operations on the reached grid includes:

[0157] S41, after the snow sweeping robot completes the snow sweeping operation on a snow sweeping grid, with the snow sweeping robot as the center, it searches within a preset range whether there is a first target snow sweeping grid with a potential energy value greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow sweeping robot is currently located; wherein, the first target snow sweeping grid is in an uncleaned state;

[0158] S42, if there is a first target snow-sweeping grid within a preset range whose potential energy value is greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then control the snow-sweeping robot to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid, so as to perform snow-sweeping operation on the first target snow-sweeping grid;

[0159] S43, if there is no first target snow-sweeping grid within the preset range whose potential energy value is greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then with the snow-sweeping robot as the center, search within the preset range for a second target snow-sweeping grid whose potential energy value is less than the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located; wherein, the second target snow-sweeping grid is in an unswept state;

[0160] S44, if there is a second target snow-sweeping grid within the preset range whose potential energy value is less than that of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then control the snow-sweeping robot to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid, so as to perform snow-sweeping operation on the second target snow-sweeping grid.

[0161] Specifically, the aforementioned preset range can be within multiple grid areas centered on the snow removal robot, for example, within eight grid areas centered on the snow removal robot. Please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 3After the potential field operation is completed, the snow removal robot can be controlled to start from any unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value (i.e., an unswept grid with a potential energy value of 8). Once the snow removal robot has finished sweeping the grid, the grid will become cleared (an electronic marker can be set at the corresponding location on the snow removal map to distinguish it from grids in an unswept state). At this time, the snow removal robot will move to the next unswept grid with a potential energy value greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the current grid and the closest distance (i.e., the first target snow removal grid with a potential energy value of 8 adjacent to the snow removal robot's current grid). The snow-sweeping robot performs snow removal operations and repeats the above steps. Once all grids with a potential energy value of 8 have been cleared, there are no more unsweeped grids within the preset range with a potential energy value greater than or equal to that of the grid currently occupied by the snow-sweeping robot. At this point, it searches for an unsweeped grid with a potential energy value of 7 within the preset range (i.e., the second target snow-sweeping grid) and controls the snow-sweeping robot to move to the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid (i.e., the second target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value of 7 adjacent to the grid currently occupied by the snow-sweeping robot) to perform snow removal operations, repeating the above steps until the snow-sweeping robot presses the button. Figure 3 The planned path shown will complete the snow removal operation for all snow removal grids.

[0162] Further, please refer to Figure 5 and Figure 6 In an exemplary embodiment, after the step of searching within a preset range, centered on the snow-sweeping robot, for the existence of a second target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid currently occupied by the snow-sweeping robot, the process includes:

[0163] S431, if there is no second target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located within the preset range, then search for snow-throwing grids within the preset range with the snow-sweeping robot as the center.

[0164] S432, if there are snow-throwing grids within the preset range, then search the snow removal map for any un-sweeped third target snow removal grids;

[0165] S433, if the third target snow-sweeping grid exists in the snow-sweeping map, the snow-sweeping robot is controlled by the D*Lite algorithm to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the third target snow-sweeping grid with the highest potential energy value, so as to perform snow-sweeping operation on the third target snow-sweeping grid.

[0166] S434, after the snow removal robot completes the snow removal operation on the third target snow removal grid, the step of searching within a preset range with the snow removal robot as the center to see if there is a first target snow removal grid with a potential energy value greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow removal robot is currently located is repeated.

[0167] When multiple snow-throwing grids are set, the resulting grid potential energy distribution image after performing potential fieldization operation using multiple snow-throwing grids as common starting points is as follows: Figure 5 As shown. Figure 5 and Figure 6 Taking a setup with two snow-throwing grids as an example, when the snow-sweeping robot travels to the vicinity of the snow-throwing grid on the left according to the path planning method described above and clears all the snow-sweeping grids with an outer potential energy value of 1, there are still some undisturbed snow-sweeping grids in the snow-sweeping map (i.e., the undisturbed snow-sweeping grids near the snow-throwing grid on the right). At this point, the D*Lite path planning algorithm can be used to search for the undisturbed third target snow-sweeping grid in the snow-sweeping map and control the snow-sweeping robot to travel to the third target with the highest potential energy value. The snow-sweeping grid (i.e., the third target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value of 3, located near the snow-throwing grid on the right in the diagram) is swept. After sweeping, the snow-sweeping robot starts from its current grid and repeats the movement and snow-sweeping operations in steps S41-S44 according to the path planning method described above, until the snow-sweeping robot has swept all the snow-sweeping grids with a potential energy value of 1 on the outer layer of the snow-throwing grid on the right. At this point, the sweeping work for all snow-sweeping grids in the snow-sweeping map is completed. The movement path of the snow-sweeping robot is as follows: Figure 6 As shown.

[0168] Further, please refer to Figures 2 to 6 In one exemplary embodiment, the step of performing snow removal on the reached grid includes:

[0169] S45, snow is collected through the snow inlet assembly;

[0170] S46, determine whether the snow-throwing grid exists within the preset range;

[0171] S47, if the snow-throwing grid does not exist within the preset range, the snow-sweeping grid with the lowest potential energy value and in an uncleaned state within the preset range shall be taken as the actual snow-throwing grid.

[0172] S48, if the snow-throwing grid exists within the preset range, the snow-throwing grid shall be used as the actual snow-throwing grid;

[0173] S49, direct the snow-throwing direction of the snow-throwing component toward the actual snow-throwing grid.

[0174] The snow-throwing strategy provided in this embodiment ensures that the snow-throwing direction always faces the uncleaned grid cells whose potential energy value is less than that of the grid cell currently occupied by the snow-sweeping robot, in preparation for subsequent cleaning; such as Figure 3 , Figure 4 and Figure 6As shown, when the snow-sweeping robot is moving on a snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value of 8, it can use a snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value of 7 as the actual snow-throwing grid. Thus, when the snow-sweeping robot reaches a snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value of 7, it can sweep away the previously scattered snow as well. When the snow-sweeping robot is moving on a snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value of 1, it can use the adjacent snow-throwing grid as the actual snow-throwing grid. Through this operation, it can avoid accidentally throwing snow onto already cleared grids and compromising the snow-sweeping effect.

[0175] Furthermore, in an exemplary embodiment, an uncleaned mark is set on the snow-throwing grid and on the snow-sweeping grid where the snow-sweeping robot has not performed snow-sweeping operations; and a cleaned mark is set on the snow-sweeping grid where the snow-sweeping robot has completed snow-sweeping operations.

[0176] By setting markers, the cleaning status of each grid can be recorded in real time to ensure the accuracy of path planning.

[0177] Furthermore, in an exemplary embodiment, the traveling component is provided with a millimeter-wave radar sensing device;

[0178] The step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to travel along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid, and to perform snow-sweeping operations on the first target snow-sweeping grid, includes:

[0179] S421, during the process of the snow-sweeping robot moving toward the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid, dynamic obstacle detection is performed on the moving path by the millimeter-wave radar sensing device;

[0180] S422, If the millimeter-wave radar sensor detects a dynamic obstacle in front of the snow-sweeping robot, it controls the snow-sweeping robot to stop moving.

[0181] S423, obtain dynamic obstacle information through the millimeter-wave radar sensing device, and mark the grid that overlaps with the dynamic obstacle as a dynamic obstacle grid.

[0182] S424, the dynamic obstacle grid is removed from the snow removal grid, and the step of searching within a preset range with the snow removal robot as the center to find a first target snow removal grid with a potential energy value greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow removal robot is currently located is repeated.

[0183] Furthermore, in an exemplary embodiment, the traveling component is provided with a millimeter-wave radar sensing device;

[0184] The step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to travel along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid, and to perform snow-sweeping operations on the second target snow-sweeping grid, includes:

[0185] S441, during the process of the snow-sweeping robot moving toward the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid, dynamic obstacle detection is performed on the moving path by the millimeter-wave radar sensing device;

[0186] S442, if the millimeter-wave radar sensor detects a dynamic obstacle in front of the snow-sweeping robot, it controls the snow-sweeping robot to stop moving.

[0187] S443, obtain dynamic obstacle information through the millimeter-wave radar sensing device, and mark the grid that overlaps with the dynamic obstacle as a dynamic obstacle grid.

[0188] S444, the dynamic obstacle grid is removed from the snow removal grid, and the step of searching within a preset range with the snow removal robot as the center to see if there is a second target snow removal grid with a potential energy value less than that of the grid where the snow removal robot is currently located is repeated.

[0189] Dynamic obstacles are those that temporarily appear in the target snow removal area during the snow removal robot's movement. Using millimeter-wave radar sensors, dynamic obstacles in the snow removal robot's direction of travel can be detected, allowing the robot to stop in time and avoid collisions. By combining millimeter-wave radar sensors with GPS-RTK positioning technology, the specific coordinates of dynamic obstacles can be obtained. This allows for the identification of dynamic obstacle grids using the angle method described above for identifying snow removal grids and static obstacle grids. Once dynamic obstacle grids are identified, they can be removed from the snow removal grid, and the path planning operation for the snow removal grid is re-performed based on the grid the snow removal robot is currently in, ensuring that dynamic obstacle grids do not participate in this path planning operation. Since the snow removal robot's path always lies on snow removal grids with set potential energy values, removing dynamic obstacle grids prevents the snow removal robot from entering and colliding with them during travel, thus further improving the automatic obstacle avoidance function of the snow removal robot.

[0190] Further, please refer to Figure 13 and Figure 14 In one exemplary embodiment, the step of directing the snow-throwing direction of the snow-throwing component toward the actual snow-throwing grid includes:

[0191] S491, Obtain the first relative position information between the grid where the snow sweeping robot is currently located and the actual snow-throwing grid through GPS-RTK positioning technology;

[0192] S492, adjust the snow-throwing angle of the snow-throwing component according to the first relative position information.

[0193] Optionally, please refer to Figure 14 The snow-throwing assembly includes a snow-throwing drive device, a first rotary drive device 3, a second rotary drive device 4, a first snow-throwing tube 1, and a second snow-throwing tube 2. The first snow-throwing tube 1 is rotatably connected to the traveling assembly along the vertical axis, and the second snow-throwing tube 2 is rotatably connected to the first snow-throwing tube 1 along the horizontal axis. One end of the first snow-throwing tube 1 is connected to the snow-inlet assembly, and the other end of the first snow-throwing tube 1 is connected to one end of the second snow-throwing tube 2. The snow-throwing drive device is disposed between one end of the first snow-throwing tube 1 and the snow-inlet assembly. The first rotary drive device 3 is connected to the first snow-throwing tube 1, and the second rotary drive device 4 is connected to the second snow-throwing tube 2. The snow-throwing drive device is used to push the snow collected by the snow-inlet assembly into the first snow-throwing tube 1, and finally throw the snow out from the other end of the second snow-throwing tube 2.

[0194] The step of obtaining the first relative position information between the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located and the actual snow-throwing grid using GPS-RTK positioning technology includes:

[0195] S4911, the coordinates of the first center point of the grid where the snow sweeping robot is currently located and the coordinates of the second center point of the actual snow-throwing grid are obtained through GPS-RTK positioning technology, the horizontal line connecting the first center point coordinates and the second center point coordinates is used as the adjustment reference line, and the length of the adjustment reference line is obtained.

[0196] S4912, the first snow-throwing tube 1 is driven to rotate by the first rotary drive device 3 so that the horizontal angle between the orientation of the other end of the second snow-throwing tube 2 on the horizontal plane and the adjustment reference line is less than the first preset angle.

[0197] S4913, calculate the snow-throwing angle based on the length of the adjustment baseline; and drive the second snow-throwing tube 2 to rotate through the second rotary drive device 4 so that the vertical angle between the orientation of the other end of the second snow-throwing tube 2 in the vertical plane and the adjustment baseline is equal to the snow-throwing angle.

[0198] The snow-throwing drive device can be configured as a blade structure driven by a motor. The motor drives the blade to rotate continuously. The blade can receive the snow pushed by the snow-inlet component and continuously throw the snow into the first snow-throwing tube 1 and the second snow-throwing tube 2 above. Finally, the snow is thrown out from the upper opening of the second snow-throwing tube 2. Since the upper opening of the second snow-throwing tube 2 has a certain inclination angle relative to the lower end of the second snow-throwing tube 2, the trajectory of the snow after it is thrown out is a certain parabolic shape.

[0199] After obtaining the relative angular position between the snow-sweeping robot's current grid and the actual snow-throwing grid using GPS-RTK positioning technology, the first rotary drive device 3 can be controlled based on a preset program to drive the first snow-throwing tube 1 to rotate on the horizontal plane (the second snow-throwing tube 2 also rotates with the first snow-throwing tube 1), so that the upper opening of the second snow-throwing tube 2 points horizontally towards the actual snow-throwing grid, thus achieving the adjustment of the horizontal snow-throwing angle of the second snow-throwing tube 2. It can be understood that by setting a first preset angle, a certain error in the horizontal snow-throwing angle of the second snow-throwing tube 2 is allowed; specifically, the first preset angle can be set to 5°. When the horizontal angle between the orientation of the upper opening of the second snow-throwing tube 2 on the horizontal plane and the adjustment baseline is ±5°, the horizontal snow-throwing angle of the second snow-throwing tube 2 can be considered to be adjusted correctly.

[0200] After obtaining the straight-line distance (i.e., the length of the adjustment baseline) between the current grid of the snow-sweeping robot and the actual snow-throwing grid using GPS-RTK positioning technology, the theoretical snow-throwing angle of the second snow-throwing tube 2 can be calculated by combining this straight-line distance with parameters such as the snow-throwing speed. Based on a preset program, the second rotary drive device 4 is controlled to rotate the second snow-throwing tube 2 in the vertical plane, so that the angle between the upper opening of the second snow-throwing tube 2 and the horizontal plane is equal to the calculated snow-throwing angle. In this way, the vertical snow-throwing angle of the second snow-throwing tube 2 is adjusted.

[0201] The above operations achieve the goal of adjusting the snow-throwing angle in real time according to the different snow-throwing areas.

[0202] Furthermore, in an exemplary embodiment, the snow-inlet assembly includes a snow-inlet channel, a snow shovel, a snow-inlet drive device, a lifting mechanism, an image sensor, and an image processing module; the snow-inlet channel is connected to the snow-throwing assembly, the lifting mechanism is connected to the snow-inlet channel, the snow shovel is disposed at the snow inlet of the snow-inlet channel, the snow-inlet drive device is connected to the snow shovel, the image sensor is disposed in the snow-inlet channel, and the image processing module is electrically connected to the image sensor and the lifting mechanism;

[0203] The step of performing snow removal on the reached grid includes:

[0204] S5, the snowplow is driven by the snow inlet drive device to cut the external snow and continuously feed the external snow into the snow inlet channel;

[0205] S6, acquire the snow entry image of the snow entry channel through the image sensing device, and transmit the snow entry image to the image processing module;

[0206] S7, the image processing module determines whether the proportion of snow in the snow-incoming image exceeds a first preset proportion threshold, and the image processing module determines whether the proportion of snow in the snow-incoming image is lower than a second preset proportion threshold; wherein, the first preset proportion threshold is higher than the second preset proportion threshold.

[0207] S8, if the first preset ratio threshold is exceeded, the snow inlet channel is driven to rise through the lifting mechanism;

[0208] S9, if the snow level is lower than the second preset ratio threshold, the snow inlet channel is driven to descend by the lifting mechanism.

[0209] Through the above operations, the height of the snow inlet channel is automatically adjusted according to the amount of snow entering the image. Specifically, the first preset ratio threshold is set to 80%, and the second preset ratio threshold is set to 20%. If the calculated proportion of snow in the snow inlet image exceeds 80%, it indicates that the current snow inlet is large and the height of the snow inlet channel is too low, requiring an appropriate increase in the height of the snow inlet channel. If the calculated proportion of snow in the snow inlet image is less than 20%, it indicates that the current snow inlet is small and the height of the snow inlet channel is too high, requiring an appropriate decrease in the height of the snow inlet channel.

[0210] Furthermore, in an exemplary embodiment, an infrared sensor is provided at the snow inlet, and the infrared sensor is electrically connected to the snow inlet drive device.

[0211] After the step of driving the snowplow to cut the external snow through the snow-inlet drive device and continuously feeding the external snow into the snow-inlet channel, the following steps are included:

[0212] S51, the temperature signal at the snow inlet is obtained through the infrared sensor;

[0213] S52, when the fluctuation value of the temperature signal exceeds the preset temperature threshold, control the snow inlet drive device to stop operating.

[0214] Considering that the temperature of living organisms is significantly higher than that of snow, this embodiment uses an infrared sensor to detect the snow inlet. When the temperature signal obtained by the infrared sensor fluctuates greatly, it indicates that a part of the user's body or a small animal is present at the snow inlet and may be drawn into the snow passage. At this time, the snow drive device can be controlled to stop working in time based on a preset program (for example, turn off the drive motor to stop the snowplow from rotating) to prevent unnecessary danger and thus improve the safety performance of the snow sweeping robot.

[0215] Furthermore, in one exemplary embodiment, the snow shovel is made of rubber.

[0216] Making snow shovels from rubber helps increase their durability and permeability, allowing them to adapt to different road conditions and improving safety during the cutting of ice and snow.

[0217] Please see Figure 15 This application also provides a snow-sweeping robot that operates using the intelligent snow-sweeping method described above, the snow-sweeping robot comprising:

[0218] The positioning module is used to obtain the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area through GPS-RTK positioning technology in order to generate a snow-sweeping map;

[0219] A rasterization module is used to rasterize the snow removal map;

[0220] Potential fieldization module: Used to assign potential energy values ​​to the grid where the target snow-throwing area is located in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the grid where the target snow-throwing area is located.

[0221] The drive module is used to control the snow-sweeping robot to move one grid at a time on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value, so as to perform snow-sweeping operations on the grids it reaches.

[0222] Since this snow-sweeping robot adopts all the technical solutions of all embodiments of the above-mentioned intelligent snow-sweeping method, it has at least all the beneficial effects brought about by the technical solutions of the above-mentioned embodiments, which will not be described in detail here.

[0223] This application also provides an intelligent snow removal device, which includes a controller and a memory. The memory stores at least one instruction or at least one program. The at least one instruction or the at least one program is loaded and executed by the controller to realize the intelligent snow removal method described above.

[0224] Since this intelligent snow removal device adopts all the technical solutions of all embodiments of the above-mentioned intelligent snow removal method, it has at least all the beneficial effects brought about by the technical solutions of the above-mentioned embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0225] It should be noted that if the embodiments of this application involve directional indicators (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.), the directional indicators are only used to explain the relative positional relationship and movement of the components in a specific posture. If the specific posture changes, the directional indicators will also change accordingly.

[0226] Furthermore, if the embodiments of this application involve descriptions such as "first" or "second," these descriptions are for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature defined with "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of those features. Additionally, the use of "and / or" or "and / or" throughout the text includes three parallel solutions. For example, "A and / or B" includes solution A, solution B, or a solution that simultaneously satisfies A and B. Furthermore, the technical solutions of the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but this must be based on the ability of those skilled in the art to implement them. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or impossible to implement, it should be considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection claimed in this application.

[0227] Based on the disclosure and teachings of the foregoing specification, those skilled in the art can make changes and modifications to the above embodiments. Therefore, this application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and described above, and some modifications and changes to this application should also fall within the protection scope of the claims of this application. Furthermore, although some specific terms are used in this specification, these terms are only for convenience of explanation and do not constitute any limitation on this application.

Claims

1. An intelligent snow removal method applied to a snow removal robot, wherein, The snow-sweeping robot includes: The movement component is used to move along a planned path; A snow collection component is disposed on the traveling component, and the snow collection component is used to collect snow during snow removal operations; A snow-throwing component is disposed on the traveling component and connected to the snow-inlet component; the snow-throwing component is used to throw the snow collected by the snow-inlet component to a preset area during snow sweeping operations; The intelligent snow removal method includes the following steps: The latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area are obtained using GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate a snow-sweeping map; wherein the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area have an intersection. Rasterize the snow removal map; The snow removal map is transformed into a potential field: starting from the grid cell where the target snow-throwing area is located, the potential energy value is assigned to the grid cell where the target snow removal area is located in a way that diffuses outward through a breadth-first search algorithm; wherein, the potential energy value increases with the increase of the diffusion layer; The snow-sweeping robot is controlled to move one grid at a time on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value, and to perform snow-sweeping operations on the grids it reaches; until the snow-sweeping robot moves to the target snow-throwing area.

2. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 1, wherein, After the step of rasterizing the snow removal map, the following steps are included: The angle method is used to determine whether each grid is located within the target snow removal area: the line connecting the center point of each grid to each vertex of the target snow removal area is used as the first auxiliary line. It is determined whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point is equal to 360°; if so, the corresponding grid is determined to be located within the target snow removal area. Set the grids located within the target snow removal area as snow removal grids; and set the grids located within the target snow throwing area as snow throwing grids; The step of assigning potential energy values ​​to the grid cells containing the target snow-spraying area in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the grid cell containing the target snow-spraying area, includes: Starting from the snow-throwing grid, the potential energy value is assigned to the snow-sweeping grid in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm.

3. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 2, wherein, The step of obtaining the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-clearing area using GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate a snow-clearing map includes: The latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area, the target snow-sweeping area, and the static obstacle area are obtained using GPS-RTK positioning technology to generate the snow-sweeping map. After the step of rasterizing the snow removal map, the following steps are included: The method of angle determination is used to determine whether each grid cell overlaps with the static obstacle area: the line connecting each grid vertex of each grid cell to each vertex of the static obstacle area is used as a second auxiliary line, and it is determined whether the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to each grid vertex is equal to 360°; if the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to any grid vertex of any grid cell is equal to 360°, then it is determined that the corresponding grid cell overlaps with the static obstacle area; Grids that overlap with the static obstacle area are designated as static obstacle grids; Before the step of assigning potential energy values ​​to the snow-sweeping grid in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the snow-throwing grid, the following steps are included: Determine whether there is a static obstacle grid in the snow removal grid; if so, remove the static obstacle grid from the snow removal grid.

4. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 2, wherein, The step of determining whether the sum of the angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point of each grid and each vertex of the target snow-sweeping area is equal to 360°, using the line connecting the center point of each grid to each vertex of the target snow-sweeping area as the first auxiliary line, includes: Determine whether the center point satisfies the following formula: Where O represents the coordinates of the center point, P i P j Represents the coordinates of two adjacent vertices in the target snow-clearing area. In this context, the superscript represents a vector symbol, and Z represents the set of integers; If the condition is met, then the sum of the included angles between adjacent first auxiliary lines corresponding to the center point is determined to be equal to 360°.

5. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 3, wherein, The step of determining whether the sum of the angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to each grid vertex and each vertex of the static obstacle region is equal to 360°, using the line connecting each grid vertex to each vertex of the static obstacle region as a second auxiliary line, includes: Determine whether the grid vertices satisfy the following formula: Where D represents the coordinates of the grid vertex, and Pi and Pj represent the coordinates of two adjacent vertices in the static obstacle region. In this context, the superscript represents a vector symbol, and Z represents the set of integers; If the condition is met, then the sum of the included angles between adjacent second auxiliary lines corresponding to the grid vertex is determined to be equal to 360°.

6. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 2, wherein, The step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to move grid by grid on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value, so as to perform snow-sweeping operations on the grids it reaches, includes: After the snow-sweeping robot completes the snow-sweeping operation on a snow-sweeping grid, it searches within a preset range, centered on the snow-sweeping robot, for a first target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located; wherein, the first target snow-sweeping grid is in an uncleaned state; If there is a first target snow-sweeping grid within the preset range whose potential energy value is greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then the snow-sweeping robot is controlled to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid in order to perform snow-sweeping operation on the first target snow-sweeping grid. If there is no first target snow-sweeping grid within the preset range whose potential energy value is greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then with the snow-sweeping robot as the center, a search is conducted within the preset range to find a second target snow-sweeping grid whose potential energy value is less than the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located; wherein, the second target snow-sweeping grid is in an uncleaned state; If there is a second target snow-sweeping grid within the preset range whose potential energy value is less than that of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located, then the snow-sweeping robot is controlled to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid in order to perform snow-sweeping operation on the second target snow-sweeping grid.

7. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 6, wherein, Following the step of searching within a preset range, centered on the snow-sweeping robot, for a second target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid currently occupied by the snow-sweeping robot, the process includes: If there is no second target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located within the preset range, then the snow-sweeping robot is used as the center to search for whether there is a snow-throwing grid within the preset range. If there are snow-throwing grids within the preset range, then search the snow removal map to see if there are any undisturbed third target snow removal grids. If the third target snow removal grid exists in the snow removal map, the snow removal robot is controlled by the D*Lite algorithm to move along the snow removal grid to the third target snow removal grid with the highest potential energy value, so as to perform snow removal operation on the third target snow removal grid. After the snow-sweeping robot completes the snow-sweeping operation on the third target snow-sweeping grid, the step of searching within a preset range with the snow-sweeping robot as the center to see if there is a first target snow-sweeping grid with a potential energy value greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located is repeated.

8. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 6, wherein, The step of performing snow removal on the reached grid includes: Snow is collected through the snow inlet assembly; Determine whether the snow-throwing grid exists within the preset range; If the snow-throwing grid does not exist within the preset range, the snow-sweeping grid with the lowest potential energy value and in an uncleaned state within the preset range shall be taken as the actual snow-throwing grid. If the snow-throwing grid exists within the preset range, the snow-throwing grid shall be used as the actual snow-throwing grid. The snow-throwing direction of the snow-throwing component is directed toward the actual snow-throwing grid.

9. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 6, wherein, Unswept marks are set on the snow-throwing grids and on the snow-sweeping grids where the snow-sweeping robot has not performed snow-sweeping operations; and swept marks are set on the snow-sweeping grids where the snow-sweeping robot has completed snow-sweeping operations.

10. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 6, wherein, The traveling component is equipped with a millimeter-wave radar sensing device. The step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to move along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid, and to perform snow-sweeping operations on the first target snow-sweeping grid, includes: As the snow-sweeping robot moves toward the nearest first target snow-sweeping grid, the millimeter-wave radar sensing device performs dynamic obstacle detection on the path of travel. If the millimeter-wave radar sensor detects a dynamic obstacle in front of the snow-sweeping robot, it controls the snow-sweeping robot to stop moving. The millimeter-wave radar sensing device acquires dynamic obstacle information, and marks the grids that overlap with the dynamic obstacles as dynamic obstacle grids. Remove the dynamic obstacle grid from the snow removal grid, and repeat the step of searching within a preset range, centered on the snow removal robot, for a first target snow removal grid whose potential energy value is greater than or equal to the potential energy value of the grid where the snow removal robot is currently located.

11. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 6, wherein, The traveling component is equipped with a millimeter-wave radar sensing device. The step of controlling the snow-sweeping robot to travel along the snow-sweeping grid to the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid, and to perform snow-sweeping operations on the second target snow-sweeping grid, includes: As the snow-sweeping robot moves toward the nearest second target snow-sweeping grid, the millimeter-wave radar sensing device performs dynamic obstacle detection on the path of travel. If the millimeter-wave radar sensor detects a dynamic obstacle in front of the snow-sweeping robot, it controls the snow-sweeping robot to stop moving. The millimeter-wave radar sensing device acquires dynamic obstacle information, and marks the grids that overlap with the dynamic obstacles as dynamic obstacle grids. Remove the dynamic obstacle grid from the snow removal grid, and repeat the step of searching within a preset range, centered on the snow removal robot, for a second target snow removal grid with a potential energy value lower than that of the grid where the snow removal robot is currently located.

12. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 8, wherein, The step of directing the snow-throwing direction of the snow-throwing component toward the actual snow-throwing grid includes: The first relative position information between the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located and the actual snow-throwing grid is obtained by GPS-RTK positioning technology; The snow-throwing angle of the snow-throwing component is adjusted according to the first relative position information.

13. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 12, wherein, The snow-throwing assembly includes a snow-throwing drive device, a first rotary drive device, a second rotary drive device, a first snow-throwing tube, and a second snow-throwing tube. The first snow-throwing tube is rotatably connected to the traveling assembly along a vertical axis, and the second snow-throwing tube is rotatably connected to the first snow-throwing tube along a horizontal axis. One end of the first snow-throwing tube is connected to the snow-inlet assembly, and the other end of the first snow-throwing tube is connected to one end of the second snow-throwing tube. The snow-throwing drive device is disposed between one end of the first snow-throwing tube and the snow-inlet assembly. The first rotary drive device is connected to the first snow-throwing tube, and the second rotary drive device is connected to the second snow-throwing tube. The snow-throwing drive device is used to push the snow collected by the snow-inlet assembly into the first snow-throwing tube, and finally throw the snow out from the other end of the second snow-throwing tube. The step of obtaining the first relative position information between the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located and the actual snow-throwing grid using GPS-RTK positioning technology includes: The coordinates of the first center point of the grid where the snow-sweeping robot is currently located and the coordinates of the second center point of the actual snow-throwing grid are obtained through GPS-RTK positioning technology. The horizontal line connecting the coordinates of the first center point and the coordinates of the second center point is used as the adjustment baseline, and the length of the adjustment baseline is obtained. The first snow-throwing tube is driven to rotate by the first rotary drive device so that the horizontal angle between the orientation of the other end of the second snow-throwing tube on the horizontal plane and the adjustment baseline is less than the first preset angle. The snow-throwing angle is calculated based on the length of the adjustment baseline; and the second snow-throwing tube is driven to rotate by the second rotary drive device so that the vertical angle between the orientation of the other end of the second snow-throwing tube in the vertical plane and the adjustment baseline is equal to the snow-throwing angle.

14. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 1, wherein, The snow-inlet assembly includes a snow-inlet channel, a snow shovel, a snow-inlet drive device, a lifting mechanism, an image sensor, and an image processing module; the snow-inlet channel is connected to the snow-throwing assembly, the lifting mechanism is connected to the snow-inlet channel, the snow shovel is disposed at the snow inlet of the snow-inlet channel, the snow-inlet drive device is connected to the snow shovel, the image sensor is disposed in the snow-inlet channel, and the image processing module is electrically connected to the image sensor and the lifting mechanism; The step of performing snow removal on the reached grid includes: The snowplow is driven by the snow inlet drive device to cut the external snow and continuously feed the external snow into the snow inlet channel; The image sensor acquires the snow entry image of the snow entry channel and transmits the snow entry image to the image processing module. The image processing module determines whether the proportion of snow in the snow-incoming image exceeds a first preset proportion threshold, and whether the proportion of snow in the snow-incoming image is lower than a second preset proportion threshold; wherein, the first preset proportion threshold is higher than the second preset proportion threshold. If the first preset ratio threshold is exceeded, the snow inlet channel will be driven to rise by the lifting mechanism. If the snow level is below the second preset threshold, the snow inlet channel will be lowered by the lifting mechanism.

15. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 14, wherein, An infrared sensor is installed at the snow inlet, and the infrared sensor is electrically connected to the snow inlet drive device. After the step of driving the snowplow to cut the external snow through the snow-inlet drive device and continuously feeding the external snow into the snow-inlet channel, the following steps are included: The temperature signal at the snow inlet is obtained through the infrared sensing device. When the fluctuation value of the temperature signal exceeds the preset temperature threshold, the snow inlet drive device is controlled to stop operating.

16. The intelligent snow removal method according to claim 14, wherein, The snow shovel is made of rubber.

17. A snow-sweeping robot, operating using the intelligent snow-sweeping method as described in any one of claims 1-16, wherein, The snow-sweeping robot includes: The positioning module is used to obtain the latitude and longitude coordinates of the target snow-throwing area and the target snow-sweeping area through GPS-RTK positioning technology in order to generate a snow-sweeping map; A rasterization module is used to rasterize the snow removal map; Potential fieldization module: Used to assign potential energy values ​​to the grid where the target snow-throwing area is located in an outward diffusion manner using a breadth-first search algorithm, starting from the grid where the target snow-throwing area is located. The drive module is used to control the snow-sweeping robot to move one grid at a time on the unswept grid with the highest current potential energy value, so as to perform snow-sweeping operations on the grids it reaches.

18. An intelligent snow removal device, wherein, The intelligent snow removal device includes a controller and a memory, wherein the memory stores at least one instruction or at least one program, and the at least one instruction or the at least one program is loaded and executed by the controller to implement the intelligent snow removal method as described in any one of claims 1 to 16.

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