Ground medium detection method and device and cleaning equipment

Abstract

A ground medium contour detection method, apparatus and cleaning device, the method comprising: in response to a preset ground medium detected by the cleaning device, triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch an inner boundary exploration mode and an outer boundary exploration mode (210); in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to detect medium demarcation points according to a predetermined direction to obtain a medium demarcation point set (220); and determining a preset ground medium contour based on the medium demarcation point set (230). The ground medium contour detection method can improve the detection efficiency of the cleaning equipment on the ground medium contour.

Description

Ground medium detection method, device and cleaning equipment Technical Field

[0001] The present application belongs to the field of cleaning equipment control technology, and in particular relates to a ground medium detection method, device and cleaning equipment. Background Art

[0002] Currently, when cleaning equipment, including sweeping robots, detect floor media such as carpets, they typically need to perform contour detection. For example, in existing solutions, sweeping robots typically detect the outside of the carpet's contour. This requires the robot to rotate in place to adjust its detection direction, resulting in a decrease in the sweeping robot's detection efficiency. Therefore, improving the efficiency of sweeping equipment in detecting floor media contours is a pressing technical issue.

[0003] Summary of the Invention

[0004] The embodiments of the present application provide a method, apparatus, and cleaning device for detecting the contour of a ground medium, thereby improving the efficiency of the cleaning device in detecting the contour of the ground medium, at least to a certain extent.

[0005] Other features and advantages of the present application will become apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part by practice of the present application.

[0006] According to the first aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a ground medium contour detection method is provided, characterized in that the method includes: in response to the cleaning device detecting a preset ground medium, triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between an inner boundary exploration mode and an outer boundary exploration mode; in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to detect medium demarcation points in a predetermined direction to obtain a medium demarcation point set; and determining a preset ground medium contour based on the medium demarcation point set.

[0007] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the triggering of the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode includes: if at least one medium demarcation point is detected in the inner boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; if at least one medium demarcation point is detected in the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the triggering of the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode includes: if the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to perform a first predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; if the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the outer boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to perform a second predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the cleaning device is controlled to perform a first predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode, including: controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to a first preset direction until the cleaning device detects a medium demarcation point, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; or, controlling the cleaning device to move backward or turn around until the cleaning device detects a medium demarcation point, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; wherein, the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode is opposite to the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned solution, controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode includes:

[0011] In the inner boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to move in a first predetermined direction to detect the medium demarcation point, and the first predetermined direction includes a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction; in the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to move in a second predetermined direction to detect the medium demarcation point, and the second predetermined direction is opposite to the first predetermined direction.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, in the outer boundary exploration mode, during the detection process of the cleaning device, the first angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device is monitored; if the cleaning device does not detect the medium dividing point, and the first angle change exceeds the first angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place in the second predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is detected.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the method further includes: recording a second angle change in the orientation of the cleaning device during the process of the cleaning device rotating in place according to the second predetermined direction; if the second angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium demarcation point exceeds a second angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, and recording the re-detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set; or, when the cleaning device rotates in place according to the second predetermined direction and detects the medium demarcation point, recording the currently detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set, and controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, so as to adjust the exploration direction of the cleaning device and switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the method further includes: in the inner boundary exploration mode, during the detection process of the cleaning device, monitoring the third angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device; if the cleaning device fails to detect the medium dividing point, and the third angle change exceeds the third angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place in the first predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is detected.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the method also includes: recording a fourth angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device during the process of the cleaning device rotating in place according to the first predetermined direction; if the fourth angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium demarcation point exceeds a fourth angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the second predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, and recording the re-detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set; or, when the cleaning device rotates in place according to the first predetermined direction and detects the medium demarcation point, recording the currently detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set, and controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the second predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, so as to adjust the exploration direction of the cleaning device and switch to the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium dividing point in a predetermined direction includes: controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium dividing point in a predetermined direction until the detection of the cleaning device is interrupted, or until the distance between the medium dividing point detected by the cleaning device and the medium dividing point detected for the first time is less than a preset distance threshold.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the medium demarcation point includes a preset medium demarcation point and a non-preset medium demarcation point. The preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode, and the non-preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, determining the preset ground medium profile based on the medium demarcation point set includes: determining the preset ground medium profile based on the preset medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set; or, determining the preset ground medium profile based on the non-preset medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set; or, determining the preset ground medium profile based on the preset medium demarcation points and non-preset medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set.

[0019] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the preset ground medium contour is determined based on the medium demarcation point set, including: connecting each medium demarcation point in sequence according to the order in which each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set is detected to determine the preset ground medium contour; or, generating convex hull data based on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set, and determining the preset ground medium contour based on the convex hull data; or, determining the preset ground medium contour by fitting each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set; or, determining the preset ground medium contour by performing graphic matching processing on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set.

[0020] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the method further includes: if the cleaning equipment interrupts the detection of the preset ground medium, then based on the set of detected medium boundary points, the explored preset ground medium contour is determined; based on the explored preset ground medium contour, the undetected preset ground medium is explored.

[0021] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the exploration of the unexplored preset ground medium based on the explored preset ground medium contour includes: determining the first medium dividing point that was explored for the first time and the second medium dividing point that was explored for the last time on the explored preset ground medium contour, and defining the line between the first medium dividing point and the second medium dividing point as the inner edge line of the unexplored preset ground medium; determining the contour of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium based on the explored medium dividing point and the inner edge line; and exploring the unexplored preset ground medium based on the contour of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium.

[0022] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the method further includes: obtaining a preset ground medium contour determined by the cleaning device during the exploration behavior; if there is a common contour line between any two preset ground medium contours, then splicing the any two preset ground medium contours to obtain a spliced ​​preset ground medium contour.

[0023] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned solution, the detection trajectory of the cleaning device for detecting the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction includes an arc trajectory.

[0024] According to the second aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a ground medium contour detection device is provided, the device comprising: a triggering unit for triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between an inner boundary exploration mode and an outer boundary exploration mode in response to the cleaning device detecting a preset ground medium; a control unit for controlling the cleaning device to detect medium demarcation points in a predetermined direction in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to obtain a medium demarcation point set; and a determination unit for determining a preset ground medium contour based on the medium demarcation point set.

[0025] According to a third aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, characterized in that at least one program code is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the operations performed by the method described in any one of the first aspects above.

[0026] According to a fourth aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a cleaning device is provided, comprising one or more processors and one or more memories, wherein at least one program code is stored in the one or more memories, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by the one or more processors to implement the operations performed by the method described in any one of the first aspects above.

[0027] In the present application, in the process of detecting the preset ground medium contour by the cleaning device, the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode are switched alternately, and the cleaning device is controlled to detect the medium boundary points in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode in a predetermined direction. After obtaining the set of medium boundary points, the preset ground medium contour is obtained after data processing of the medium boundary points in the set. The technical solution of the present application can control the cleaning device to detect the ground medium contour during movement. Based on this, the cleaning device reduces the action of rotating in place, which can reduce the invalid detection work of the cleaning device to a certain extent and improve the detection efficiency of the ground medium contour.

[0028] It should be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The accompanying drawings are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification, illustrating embodiments consistent with the present application and, together with the specification, explaining the principles of the present application. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application, and those skilled in the art can derive other drawings based on these drawings without inventive effort. In the drawings:

[0030] FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a sweeping robot in an embodiment of the present application at different viewing angles;

[0031] FIG2 shows a flow chart of a method for detecting ground medium contours in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG3 shows a scene demonstration diagram of a preset ground medium boundary point and a non-preset ground medium point in an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG4 shows a scene demonstration diagram of determining the initial exploration mode of the cleaning device in an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] FIG5 shows a scene demonstration diagram of controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction in an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] FIG6 shows a scene demonstration diagram of triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] FIG7 shows a scene demonstration diagram of triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode when an obstacle is detected in an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] FIG8 shows a scene demonstration diagram for recording a first angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device in an embodiment of the present application.

[0038] FIG9 shows a scene demonstration diagram of controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is detected again in an embodiment of the present application.

[0039] FIG10 is a schematic diagram showing a method of connecting the respective medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set in the order in which they are detected to determine the preset ground medium profile in an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] FIG11 is a schematic diagram showing a method of generating convex hull data based on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set and determining the preset ground medium contour based on the convex hull data in an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] FIG12 is a schematic diagram showing a method of determining the preset ground medium profile by fitting each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG13 is a schematic diagram showing a method of determining the preset ground medium contour by performing pattern matching processing on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG14 shows a flow chart of a method for detecting ground medium contours in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG15 is a schematic diagram showing a method of splicing any two preset ground medium contours to obtain a spliced ​​preset ground medium contour if a common contour line exists between the two preset ground medium contours in an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] FIG16 shows a block diagram of a ground medium contour detection device in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG17 shows a schematic structural diagram of a cleaning device in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of this application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of this application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0048] In addition, described feature, structure or characteristic can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner.In the following description, many specific details are provided so as to provide a full understanding of the embodiments of the present application. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the technical scheme of the present application can be put into practice without one or more of the specific details, or other methods, components, devices, steps etc. can be adopted. In other cases, known methods, devices, implementations or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid blurring the various aspects of the application.

[0049] The block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings are merely functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically separate entities. That is, these functional entities may be implemented in software, in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different networks and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0050] The flowcharts shown in the accompanying drawings are for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily include all contents and operations / steps, nor must they be executed in the order described. For example, some operations / steps may be decomposed, while others may be combined or partially combined. Therefore, the actual execution order may vary depending on the actual situation.

[0051] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or implicitly specify the number of the technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature specified as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more.

[0052] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "step 1, step 2, ..." are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the order of execution of the indicated technical features.

[0053] The following will describe some embodiments of the present application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the absence of conflict, the following embodiments and features therein may be combined with each other.

[0054] The present application provides a method, device, and cleaning device for detecting the contour of a floor medium. The method can be applied to a device capable of intelligent cleaning, such as a robot vacuum cleaner or other intelligent cleaning device, which is not limited in the present application.

[0055] First, in order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the control scheme of the cleaning device of the present application, the structure of the sweeping robot will be briefly described below with reference to FIG1 , taking the sweeping robot as an example.

[0056] 1 , which shows a schematic structural diagram of a sweeping robot in an embodiment of the present application at different viewing angles.

[0057] Specifically, in Figure 1, Figure 1(a) shows a schematic structural diagram of the sweeping robot from an external perspective, Figure 1(b) shows a schematic structural diagram of the sweeping robot from an upward perspective, and Figure 1(c) shows a schematic structural diagram of the internal structure of the sweeping robot from a downward perspective.

[0058] Exemplarily, the technical solution of the present application can be applied to a sweeping robot 100, which mainly includes: an ultrasonic sensor 101, a drop sensor 102, a driving wheel 103, a wiping member 104, a universal wheel 105, a distance sensor 106, a collision sensor 107, a dust box 108, a fan 109, a side brush 110, a roller brush 111, a dust suction port 112, etc.

[0059] Among them, the ultrasonic sensor 101 can be used to detect obstacles, specifically, in this application, it can be used to detect a preset ground medium (such as a carpet). In some embodiments, the ultrasonic sensor for detecting the preset ground medium is located at the bottom of the front end of the cleaning device, as shown in Figure 1(b).

[0060] The drop sensor 102 is located at the bottom edge of the main body of the sweeping robot 100, and there can be one or more drop sensors. When the sweeping robot 100 moves to the edge of the ground, the drop sensor 102 can detect that the sweeping robot 100 is at risk of falling from a height, thereby executing corresponding anti-fall responses, such as the sweeping robot 100 stopping moving, or moving away from the falling position, etc.

[0061] Each drive wheel 103 is equipped with a drive wheel motor, which drives the drive wheel 103 to rotate. Thus, the drive wheels provide the robot vacuum's power to move. Rotation of the drive wheels 103 drives the robot vacuum 100. Furthermore, the drive wheels 103 and the universal wheels 105 work together to enable the robot vacuum's movement and steering. Rotation of the drive wheels 103 can propel the robot vacuum forward or backward, and the steering angle of the robot vacuum can be controlled by controlling the speed difference between the left and right drive wheels 103.

[0062] The sweeping robot 100 is provided with a dust suction device, which includes a dust box 108 and a fan 109. When the side brush 110 and / or the roller brush 111 arranged at the bottom of the sweeping robot 100 are started to rotate, the rotating side brush 110 and / or the roller brush 111 sweep dust and other garbage to the vicinity of the dust suction port 112 at the bottom of the sweeping robot 100. Due to the suction action of the fan 109, the garbage is sucked into the dust suction port 112 and enters the dust box 108 through the dust suction port 112 for temporary storage.

[0063] The distance sensor 106 can specifically be an infrared ranging sensor, an ultrasonic ranging sensor, a laser ranging sensor or a depth sensor, etc., which can be used to detect the distance from the obstacle to the distance sensor 106. The distance sensor 106 is set on the side of the main body of the sweeping robot, so that the distance value from the obstacle located near the side of the sweeping robot 100 to the distance sensor 106 can be measured through the distance sensor 106.

[0064] The collision sensor 107 includes a collision shell 107A and a trigger sensor 107B. The collision shell 107A is arranged at the front of the robot body 100, and the collision shell 107A is arranged around the front end and the front end of the side of the robot body 100. Specifically, the collision shell 107A is arranged at the front end of the robot body 100 and the front left and right sides of the robot body 100. The trigger sensor 107B is arranged inside the robot body 100 and behind the collision shell 107A. An elastic buffer, such as a spring or shrapnel, is provided between the collision shell 107A and the robot body 100. When the mobile robot collides with an obstacle through the collision shell 107A, the collision shell 107A moves toward the inside of the mobile robot and compresses the elastic buffer. After collision housing 107A moves a certain distance into the interior of the mobile robot, it contacts trigger sensor 107B, triggering sensor 107B to generate a collision signal. When collision sensor 107B is not triggered, it outputs a low-level signal. When triggered, the collision signal generated is a high-level signal. This collision signal can be sent to the controller of the sweeping robot 100 for processing. After colliding with an obstacle, the sweeping robot 100 moves away from the obstacle, and the collision housing returns to its original position under the action of the elastic buffer. This shows that collision sensor 107 can detect obstacles and act as a buffer after colliding with an obstacle.

[0065] It is understandable that the sweeping robot 100 may also have other structures, which is not limited in this application.

[0066] 2 , which shows a flow chart of a ground medium contour detection method in an embodiment of the present application, specifically including steps 210 to 230 .

[0067] Step 210 : In response to the cleaning device detecting a preset ground medium, triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between an inner boundary exploration mode and an outer boundary exploration mode.

[0068] In this application, the preset ground medium can be a carpet medium, a special material floor tile medium, a foot mat medium, a crawling mat medium, a mat medium or other ground material medium that requires cleaning equipment to detect the contour, and this application does not limit it here.

[0069] In one embodiment of the present application, the inner boundary exploration mode may refer to the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles performing edge exploration of the preset ground medium within the preset ground medium, and during the inner boundary exploration mode, at least fifty percent of the trajectory formed by the orthographic projection of the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles coincides with the orthographic projection of the preset ground medium; correspondingly, the outer boundary exploration mode may refer to the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles performing edge exploration of the preset ground medium within a non-preset ground medium (i.e., outside the preset ground medium), and during the outer boundary exploration mode, at least fifty percent of the trajectory formed by the orthographic projection of the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles coincides with the orthographic projection of the non-preset ground medium.

[0070] In this application, the cleaning equipment can detect the preset ground medium through various technical means. For example, the cleaning equipment can detect the preset ground medium through sensors (such as ultrasonic sensors, photosensitive sensors, etc.), which is not limited in this application.

[0071] It should be noted that in the present application, the cleaning device can detect the preset ground medium from outside the preset ground medium, or it can detect the preset ground medium from inside the preset ground medium. If the cleaning device detects the preset ground medium from outside the preset ground medium, when the sensor of the cleaning device used to detect obstacles detects the preset ground medium signal, it is considered that the cleaning device has detected the preset ground medium and has reached the edge of the preset ground medium; if the cleaning device detects the preset ground medium from inside the preset ground medium, when the sensor of the cleaning device used to detect obstacles detects a non-preset ground medium signal, it is considered that the cleaning device has detected the non-preset ground medium and has reached the edge of the preset ground medium.

[0072] For example, taking the carpet as the preset ground medium, when the cleaning device starts to perform the task of detecting the carpet contour from inside the carpet, when the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles detects a non-carpet medium signal, it is considered that the cleaning device has detected the non-carpet medium. At this time, the cleaning device reaches the edge of the carpet medium, which triggers the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to detect the carpet contour; when the cleaning device starts to perform the task of detecting the carpet contour from outside the carpet, when the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles detects a carpet medium signal, it is considered that the cleaning device has detected the carpet medium. At this time, the cleaning device reaches the edge of the carpet medium, which triggers the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to detect the carpet contour.

[0073] In this application, if the cleaning device is currently in the process of building a cleaning area map and detects a preset ground medium during movement, the contour exploration of the preset ground medium will not be performed. It is understandable that the cleaning device determines the movement route and cleaning trajectory based on the cleaning area map. If the cleaning device is newly purchased, it is necessary to explore the surrounding environment before performing the cleaning task to build an initial cleaning area map. If the contour exploration of the preset ground medium is not performed during the construction of the cleaning area map, the efficiency of building the cleaning area map can be improved.

[0074] In the present application, when the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium during movement, if the preset ground medium contour information is included in the ground medium contour detection record of the cleaning device, and the time interval between the time of recording the preset ground medium contour and the current time is less than the preset duration, the preset ground medium contour is not explored; if the preset ground medium contour information is included in the ground medium contour detection record of the cleaning device, and the time interval between the time of recording the preset ground medium contour and the current time is greater than the preset duration, the preset ground medium contour is re-explored.

[0075] In this application, if a cleaning device encounters a predetermined floor medium while moving or performing a cleaning task and no special treatment is taken for the predetermined floor medium, the cleaning device or the predetermined floor medium may be damaged. For example, if the predetermined floor medium is carpet, the cleaning device may become stuck on the carpet while moving on it. If the cleaning device is currently performing a mopping task, the carpet may become wet during the mopping process. Therefore, contour detection of the special medium material can protect the cleaning device and the predetermined floor medium material to a certain extent.

[0076] In the present application, when the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium during movement, it indicates that the cleaning device has reached the edge of the preset ground medium. At this time, the cleaning device is triggered to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, and begins to explore the preset ground medium. After determining the position and contour of the preset ground medium based on the exploration results, the cleaning device can update the preset ground medium contour information to the cleaning area map of the sweeping machine. When the cleaning device plans the travel trajectory or cleaning trajectory, it can design a detour route or clean the ground medium according to the position and contour of the preset ground medium.

[0077] It can be understood that the working environment of the cleaning equipment is dynamic. Through the technical solution provided in this application, the cleaning equipment can make special responses to the preset ground media, regularly update the detection records of the preset ground medium contours, and update the detected preset ground medium contours to the cleaning area map. To a certain extent, it can avoid the repeated detection of the preset ground medium contours by the cleaning equipment, and also provide high working efficiency of the cleaning equipment.

[0078] 2 , step 220 , in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to detect the medium demarcation points in a predetermined direction to obtain a set of medium demarcation points.

[0079] In the present application, the medium demarcation point includes a preset medium demarcation point and a non-preset medium demarcation point. The preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode, and the non-preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0080] It should be noted that the preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point determined when the cleaning device detects a non-preset medium signal in the inner boundary exploration mode. The medium demarcation point determined at this time can be the coordinates of the cleaning device when the sensor used by the cleaning device to detect obstacles detects a non-preset ground medium signal, or the coordinates of the cleaning device before the sensor used by the cleaning device to detect obstacles detects the non-preset ground medium signal a predetermined time. The non-preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point determined when the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium signal in the outer boundary exploration mode. The medium demarcation point determined at this time can be the coordinates of the cleaning device when the sensor used by the cleaning device to detect obstacles detects a preset ground medium signal, or the coordinates of the cleaning device before the sensor used by the cleaning device to detect obstacles detects a preset ground medium signal a predetermined time. In some embodiments, the coordinates of the cleaning device can be reflected by the coordinates of the sensor used by the cleaning device to detect obstacles.

[0081] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, an example will be given below with reference to FIG3 .

[0082] Referring to FIG3 , there is shown a scene demonstration diagram for determining the initial exploration mode of the cleaning device in an embodiment of the present application.

[0083] As shown in Figure 3, taking the cleaning device performing contour detection on the preset ground medium 1 as an example, point A and point B are the preset medium dividing points, that is, the medium dividing points determined when the cleaning device detects a non-preset medium signal in the inner boundary exploration mode, wherein point A is the coordinate position of the cleaning device when the sensor used to detect obstacles of the cleaning device detects a non-preset ground medium signal, and point B is the coordinate position of the cleaning device before the sensor used to detect obstacles of the cleaning device detects a non-preset ground medium signal for a predetermined time.

[0084] Continuing with Figure 3, points C and D are non-preset media demarcation points, i.e., media demarcation points determined when the cleaning device detects a preset floor media signal in outer boundary exploration mode. Point C is the coordinate position of the cleaning device when the obstacle detection sensor detects the preset floor media signal, and point D is the coordinate position of the cleaning device a predetermined time before the obstacle detection sensor detects the preset floor media signal.

[0085] It should be noted that the following embodiments of the present application are all described by taking the coordinates of the cleaning device as the preset medium demarcation point when the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles detects a non-preset ground medium signal, and the coordinates of the cleaning device as the non-preset medium demarcation point when the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles detects a preset ground medium signal. It should be noted that in the process of detecting the preset ground medium, the cleaning device records the preset medium demarcation point and the non-preset ground medium demarcation point to obtain a set of medium demarcation points. Compared with only recording the preset ground medium demarcation point as the set of medium demarcation points or only recording the non-preset medium demarcation point as the set of medium demarcation points, the spacing between the medium demarcation points can be made denser, thereby improving the accuracy of the cleaning device in exploring the preset ground medium contour.

[0086] In this application, when the cleaning device receives an instruction to perform contour detection on the preset ground medium (it can be a user through an App or voice reminder or sending a text message, etc., or the cleaning device can spontaneously perform the contour exploration task of the preset ground medium), the cleaning device starts to detect the preset ground medium from outside the preset ground medium, or the cleaning device starts to detect non-preset ground medium from inside the preset ground medium.

[0087] In some embodiments, if the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium signal from outside the preset ground medium for the first time, the coordinate point of the cleaning device sensor is determined as the first medium demarcation point, and the cleaning device is triggered to start alternating between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to explore the preset ground medium contour; if the cleaning device detects a non-preset ground medium signal from inside the preset ground medium for the first time, the coordinate point of the cleaning device sensor is determined as the first medium demarcation point, and the cleaning device is triggered to alternate between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to explore the preset ground medium contour.

[0088] In other embodiments, if the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium signal from outside the preset ground medium for the first time, the cleaning device is controlled to perform a preset action until a non-preset ground medium is detected, and the cleaning device is determined to be at the edge of the preset ground medium. At this time, the coordinate point of the cleaning device sensor is determined as the first medium demarcation point and the cleaning device is triggered to start alternating between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to explore the preset ground medium contour. If the cleaning device detects a non-preset ground medium signal from within the preset ground medium for the first time, the cleaning device is controlled to perform a preset action until the preset ground medium is detected, and the cleaning device is determined to be at the edge of the preset ground medium. At this time, the coordinate point of the cleaning device sensor is determined as the first medium demarcation point and the cleaning device is triggered to start alternating between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to explore the preset ground medium contour. The preset action includes but is not limited to retreating and rotating actions, as long as the cleaning device can detect the non-preset ground medium signal by performing the preset action after detecting the preset ground medium signal for the first time, or as long as the cleaning device can detect the preset ground medium signal by performing the preset action after detecting the non-preset ground medium signal for the first time. When the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium signal or a non-preset ground medium signal for the first time, and detects a non-preset ground medium signal or a preset ground medium signal by executing the preset action, it can be determined that the cleaning device is located at the edge of the preset ground medium. At this time, the cleaning device can be triggered to start alternating between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to explore the preset ground medium contour.

[0089] It is understandable that after the cleaning device is triggered to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device can immediately start exploring the preset ground medium contour, or it can first determine the initial exploration mode and then start exploring the preset ground medium contour.

[0090] In some embodiments, the cleaning device can determine the initial exploration mode based on preset configuration information, wherein the preset configuration information in the cleaning device can be set to include: the movement direction, speed (including angular velocity and linear velocity) of the cleaning device to perform a preset action or detect the first medium dividing point, the orientation of its front end when it is located at the edge of the preset ground medium, the signal of the ground medium detected by the obstacle detection sensor, the layout of the surrounding obstacles monitored by the distance sensor or radar, etc. The initial exploration mode includes: right inner boundary exploration mode, right outer boundary exploration mode, left inner boundary exploration mode, left outer boundary exploration mode, wherein, based on the sensor used by the cleaning device to detect obstacles, the cleaning device moving to the right of the sensor is defined as the cleaning device moving to the right, and the cleaning device moving to the left of the sensor is defined as the cleaning device moving to the left. In the present application, different methods for determining the initial exploration mode can also be designed according to specific circumstances, and the present application does not limit this.

[0091] Specifically, in order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, it will be described below with reference to FIG. 4 .

[0092] Referring to FIG. 4 , there is shown a scene demonstration diagram for determining the initial exploration mode of the cleaning device in an embodiment of the present application.

[0093] As shown in Figure 4(a)-(f), a sweeping robot in a cleaning device is used as an example for explanation, wherein the small black dot E in the figure represents the sensor of the sweeping robot for detecting obstacles (it can also be represented as the front end position of the sweeping robot), and 1 represents the preset ground medium.

[0094] The scenario corresponding to Figure 4(a) is: the sensor used by the sweeping robot to detect obstacles detects a preset ground medium signal outside the preset ground medium 1, and the coordinates of the sensor used by the sweeping robot to detect obstacles at this time are determined as the first medium dividing point; the scenario corresponding to Figure 4(b) is: the sensor used by the sweeping robot to detect obstacles detects a non-preset ground medium signal within the preset ground medium, and the coordinates of the sensor used by the sweeping robot to detect obstacles at this time are determined as the first medium dividing point.

[0095] It should be noted that when the sweeping robot detects the preset ground medium 1, it records the first medium boundary point. After that, the sweeping robot needs to determine the initial exploration mode to detect the preset ground medium 1, and alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to obtain more medium boundary points.

[0096] Continuing to refer to Figure 4, the scenario corresponding to Figure 4(c) is: after the sweeping robot detects the first medium dividing point, the right inner boundary exploration mode is determined as the initial exploration mode; the scenario corresponding to Figure 4(d) is: after the sweeping robot detects the first medium dividing point, the left inner boundary exploration mode is determined as the initial exploration mode; the scenario corresponding to Figure 4(e) is: after the sweeping robot detects the first medium dividing point, the left outer boundary exploration mode is determined as the initial exploration mode; the scenario corresponding to Figure 4(f) is: after the sweeping robot detects the first medium dividing point, the right outer boundary exploration mode is determined as the initial exploration mode.

[0097] In conjunction with Figure 4, it can be understood that the sweeping robot can select the initial exploration mode based on the preset configuration information. For example, when the sweeping robot detects the preset ground medium signal through the sensor and determines that the preset ground medium is detected, as shown in the scenario of Figure 4(a), the initial exploration mode can be determined in the left inner boundary exploration mode or the right inner boundary exploration mode. Furthermore, the initial exploration mode can be determined in the left inner boundary exploration mode or the right inner boundary exploration mode in combination with the obstacle layout around the cleaning equipment monitored by the distance sensor or radar (to stay away from obstacles or away from obstacles with a relatively dense layout); when the sweeping robot detects the non-preset ground medium signal through the sensor and determines that the preset ground medium is detected, as shown in the scenario of Figure 4(b), the initial exploration mode can be determined in the left outer boundary exploration mode or the right outer boundary exploration mode. Furthermore, the initial exploration mode can be determined in the left inner boundary exploration mode or the right inner boundary exploration mode in combination with the obstacle layout around the cleaning equipment monitored by the distance sensor or radar (to stay away from obstacles or away from obstacles with a relatively dense layout). In this embodiment, the cleaning device may also randomly select an initial exploration mode, which is not limited here.

[0098] It should be noted that, in some embodiments, after the cleaning device completes the selection of the initial exploration mode, the direction or position of the cleaning device can be adjusted to adapt to the exploration direction (e.g., the first preset direction or the second preset direction) by rotating or moving. For example, when the sweeping robot is in the scene shown in Figure 4(a), and the right inner boundary exploration mode is selected as the initial exploration mode, the sweeping robot can adjust its own orientation to adapt to the inner boundary exploration mode by rotating clockwise.

[0099] In this embodiment, the initial exploration mode is selected based on the preset configuration information of the cleaning device, which can reduce the invalid actions of the cleaning device to a certain extent. For example, it can effectively avoid the cleaning device selecting the outer boundary exploration mode as the initial exploration mode when detecting the preset ground medium from outside the preset ground medium, thereby reducing the exploration time of the cleaning device to a certain extent, or reducing the possibility of the exploration process being interrupted by surrounding obstacles, thereby improving the exploration efficiency of the cleaning device.

[0100] In the present application, in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction can be specifically implemented as follows:

[0101] In the inner boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to move in a first predetermined direction to detect a medium boundary point, where the first predetermined direction includes a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction.

[0102] In the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to move in a second predetermined direction to detect a medium boundary point, where the second predetermined direction is opposite to the first predetermined direction.

[0103] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, it will be described below with reference to FIG5 .

[0104] 5 , there is shown a scene demonstration diagram of controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction in an embodiment of the present application.

[0105] As shown in Figure 5(a)-(b), the scenario corresponding to Figure 5(a) is: after the sweeping robot detects the first medium boundary point, it will use the right inner boundary exploration mode as the initial exploration mode to detect, wherein, in the inner boundary exploration mode, the sweeping robot will be controlled to move in a clockwise direction as the first predetermined direction to detect the next medium boundary point; the scenario corresponding to Figure 5(b) is: after the sweeping robot detects the first medium boundary point, it will use the left outer boundary exploration mode as the initial exploration mode to detect, wherein, in the outer boundary exploration mode, the sweeping robot will be controlled to move in a counterclockwise direction as the second predetermined direction to detect the next medium boundary point.

[0106] It can be understood that when the cleaning equipment detects the first medium dividing point of the preset ground medium, if it detects in the left inner boundary exploration mode as the initial exploration mode, it will move counterclockwise as the first predetermined direction; if it detects in the right outer boundary exploration mode, it will move clockwise as the second predetermined direction.

[0107] It should be noted that in some embodiments of the present application, during the process of the cleaning device detecting the preset ground medium, after detecting the first medium dividing point, it is determined to move in a first predetermined direction in the inner boundary detection mode to detect the medium dividing point, and it is determined to move in a second predetermined direction in the outer boundary detection mode to detect the medium dividing point. Then, in the exploration task of the preset ground medium contour, the cleaning device will always move in the first predetermined direction in the inner boundary exploration mode to detect the medium dividing point, and will always move in the second predetermined direction in the outer boundary exploration mode to detect the medium dividing point.

[0108] In one embodiment of the present application, the detection trajectory of the cleaning device for detecting the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction may include an arc trajectory.

[0109] Specifically, in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device can be controlled to move at a predetermined angular velocity and a predetermined linear velocity, so that the cleaning device moves away from and then approaches the edge of a preset ground medium along an arc path to detect the medium dividing point. For example, when the cleaning device is in the inner boundary exploration mode, the route of the first predetermined direction shown in Figure 5(a) can be used as the travel trajectory to detect the next medium dividing point.

[0110] It can be understood that when the cleaning device is in the inner boundary exploration mode or the outer boundary exploration mode, when the cleaning device is controlled to move at a predetermined angular velocity and a predetermined linear velocity, and the angular velocity gradually decreases to detect the next medium dividing point, the exploration trajectory of the cleaning device can be a spiral trajectory; when the cleaning device is controlled to move at a predetermined angular velocity and a predetermined linear velocity, and the angular velocity remains unchanged, the exploration trajectory of the cleaning device is a circular arc trajectory. Of course, different exploration trajectories can also be designed for the cleaning device according to different situations, and this application does not limit this.

[0111] In one embodiment of the present application, triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode can be specifically implemented as follows:

[0112] If at least one medium dividing point is detected in the inner boundary search mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the outer boundary search mode.

[0113] If at least one medium dividing point is detected in the outer boundary search mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the inner boundary search mode.

[0114] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, it will be described below with reference to FIG6 .

[0115] Referring to FIG6 , a scene diagram illustrating triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode in an embodiment of the present application is shown. It should be noted that, in the embodiment defined in FIG6( a ), the specific triggering conditions for the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode or the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode are defined as follows:

[0116] If a medium demarcation point is detected in the inner boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode. If a medium demarcation point is detected in the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode. As shown in Figure 6(a), when the sweeping robot moves in a clockwise direction as the first predetermined direction in the inner boundary exploration mode and detects the next medium demarcation point (that is, the coordinate point of the cleaning device determined when the cleaning device detects a non-preset ground medium), in the current scenario, the sweeping robot will be triggered to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode and move in a counterclockwise direction as the second predetermined direction to detect the next medium demarcation point.

[0117] It is understood that in this embodiment, when the sweeping robot moves in a counterclockwise direction as the second predetermined direction in the switched outer boundary exploration mode, upon detecting a medium demarcation point (i.e., a coordinate point of the cleaning device determined when the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium), the sweeping robot is triggered to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode. In this embodiment, the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode are repeatedly switched alternately to obtain more medium demarcation points of the preset ground medium.

[0118] In an embodiment, it should be understood that the specific triggering conditions for the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode, or the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode may also include other forms. For example, when multiple medium demarcation points are continuously detected in the inner boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; when multiple medium demarcation points are continuously detected in the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode, for example, please refer to Figure 6(b).

[0119] In conjunction with the scenario shown in FIG6( b ), it should be noted that when the cleaning device is detecting the medium boundary point in the continuous inner boundary exploration mode, the following steps 1 to 3 can be performed:

[0120] Step 1: Control the cleaning device to move in a first predetermined direction in an inner boundary exploration mode. When the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles detects a non-preset ground medium signal, the coordinates of the cleaning device at this time are determined to be the medium demarcation point.

[0121] Step 2: Control the cleaning device to rotate in place in a second predetermined direction until the sensor of the cleaning device used to detect obstacles detects a preset ground medium signal, and adjust the direction of the front end of the cleaning device to adapt to the exploration of the next medium dividing point in the first predetermined direction under the inner boundary exploration mode. At this time, the coordinates of the cleaning device can be recorded as a medium dividing point or not.

[0122] Step 3: Repeat step 1 to detect more media boundary points.

[0123] After the cleaning device completes the exploration of multiple medium boundary points in the continuous inner boundary exploration mode, it switches to the continuous outer boundary exploration mode to explore multiple medium boundary points.

[0124] When the cleaning equipment is detecting the medium boundary point in the continuous outer boundary exploration mode, the following steps 4 to 6 can be performed:

[0125] Step 4: Control the cleaning device to move in a second predetermined direction in the outer boundary exploration mode. When the sensor of the cleaning device for detecting obstacles detects a preset ground medium signal, the coordinates of the cleaning device at this time are determined to be the medium demarcation point.

[0126] Step 5: Control the cleaning device to rotate in place in a first predetermined direction until the sensor of the cleaning device used to detect obstacles detects a non-preset ground medium signal, and adjust the direction of the front end of the cleaning device to adapt to the exploration of the next medium boundary point in the second predetermined direction in the outer boundary exploration mode. At this time, the coordinates of the cleaning device can be recorded as a medium boundary point or not recorded as a medium boundary point.

[0127] Step 6: Repeat step 4 to detect more media boundary points.

[0128] For those skilled in the art, based on the embodiments proposed above, it can be understood that the specific triggering conditions for the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode, or the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode are not limited to those listed above, and can be limited according to actual needs.

[0129] In another embodiment of the present application, triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode may also be implemented as follows:

[0130] If the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to perform a first predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0131] If the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to perform a second predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0132] Furthermore, in this embodiment, controlling the cleaning device to perform the first predetermined action can be implemented in either of the following two ways:

[0133] The first method is to control the cleaning device to rotate in place according to a first preset direction until the cleaning device detects a medium boundary point, thereby triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0134] The second method is to control the cleaning device to retreat or turn around and then move forward until the cleaning device detects the medium demarcation point, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode, wherein the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode is opposite to the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode. It can be understood that retreat means that the cleaning device maintains the current orientation of its front end and moves in the direction opposite to the current orientation of its front end; controlling the cleaning device to retreat may be to retreat along the original path of the historical motion trajectory, or to retreat in a straight line, or to retreat a predetermined distance along the original path of the historical motion trajectory and then retreat in a straight line. Similarly, turning around means that the direction of the front end of the cleaning device is rotated 180°; controlling the cleaning device to turn around and then move forward may be to move along the original path of the historical motion trajectory after turning around, or to move in a straight line, or to move a predetermined distance along the original path of the historical motion trajectory and then move in a straight line.

[0135] Furthermore, in this embodiment, controlling the cleaning device to perform the second predetermined action can be implemented in any one of the following two ways:

[0136] The first method is to control the cleaning device to rotate in place according to a second preset direction until the cleaning device detects a medium boundary point, thereby triggering the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0137] The second method is to control the cleaning device to move backward or turn around until the cleaning device detects the medium demarcation point, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode, wherein the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode is opposite to the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode. It can be understood that retreat means that the cleaning device maintains the current orientation of its front end and moves in the direction opposite to the current orientation of its front end; controlling the cleaning device to retreat may be to retreat along the original path of the historical motion trajectory, or to retreat in a straight line, or to retreat a predetermined distance along the original path of the historical motion trajectory and then retreat in a straight line. Similarly, turning around means that the direction of the front end of the cleaning device is rotated 180°; controlling the cleaning device to move forward after turning around may be to move along the original path of the historical motion trajectory after turning around, or to move in a straight line, or to move a predetermined distance along the original path of the historical motion trajectory and then move in a straight line.

[0138] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, it will be described below with reference to FIG. 7 .

[0139] 7 , which shows a scene demonstration diagram of triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode when an obstacle is detected in an embodiment of the present application;

[0140] As shown in Figures 7(a)-(d), a cleaning robot detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode, where clockwise is the first predetermined direction and counterclockwise is the second predetermined direction. Figure 7(a) corresponds to the scenario when the cleaning robot detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode; Figure 7(b) corresponds to the scenario when the cleaning robot detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode and controls the cleaning robot to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction to detect the medium demarcation point; Figure 7(c) corresponds to the scenario when the cleaning robot detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode and controls the cleaning robot to retreat along the historical motion trajectory to detect the medium demarcation point; Figure 7(d) corresponds to the scenario when the cleaning robot detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode and controls the cleaning robot to retreat along the historical motion trajectory until the medium demarcation point is detected, switching the cleaning robot's inner boundary exploration mode to the outer boundary exploration mode and adjusting its own direction to adapt to outer boundary exploration according to the second predetermined direction.

[0141] It can be understood that, in the scenario shown in Figure 7(c), when the sweeping robot retreats along the original historical motion trajectory until it detects the medium boundary point, it triggers the cleaning device to switch from the inner boundary exploration mode to the outer boundary exploration mode. However, as shown in the figure, it can be clearly confirmed that the relative position of the front end of the sweeping robot is not suitable for continuing to perform the contour exploration task of the preset ground medium in the outer boundary exploration mode according to the second predetermined direction. Therefore, the position or orientation of the sweeping robot can be adjusted by moving or rotating. When adjusted to adapt to performing the exploration task in the outer boundary exploration mode according to the second predetermined direction, that is, as shown in the scenario shown in Figure 7(d), the sweeping robot continues to perform contour detection of the preset ground medium 1 to obtain more medium boundary points.

[0142] In another embodiment, after the sweeping robot detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode, the inner boundary exploration mode of the sweeping robot is switched to the outer boundary exploration mode by controlling the sweeping robot to retreat along the historical motion trajectory until the medium boundary point is detected. The outer boundary exploration can be performed directly in the second predetermined direction without adjusting the direction.

[0143] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, only the scenario in which the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode with clockwise as the first predetermined direction is used as an example. It can be understood that when the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to perform the second predetermined action until the medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode. The specific implementation steps are similar to the principle shown in Figure 7 and will not be repeated here.

[0144] In this embodiment, if the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium contour before or after detecting an obstacle, the preset ground medium demarcation point may be detected in the following manner:

[0145] The medium boundary point is detected in a continuous inner boundary exploration mode. Specifically, it can be performed with reference to the above steps 1 to 3.

[0146] The medium boundary point is detected in the continuous outer boundary exploration mode. Specifically, it can be performed with reference to the above steps 4 to 6.

[0147] If at least one medium demarcation point is detected in the inner boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode. If at least one medium demarcation point is detected in the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode to detect the medium demarcation point. Specifically, reference may be made to the embodiment shown in FIG6 above.

[0148] It is understandable that in this embodiment, the exploration mode of the cleaning device before or after detecting an obstacle can determine different exploration methods to explore the medium demarcation point according to different situations, and this application does not limit this.

[0149] In this embodiment, when the cleaning device detects an obstacle and detects the medium boundary point after performing a predetermined action, switching the inner / outer boundary exploration mode can efficiently avoid the obstacle and prevent the interruption of the cleaning device's exploration behavior due to the obstruction of the obstacle, thereby greatly improving the stability and exploration efficiency of the cleaning device in exploring the ground medium contour.

[0150] In one embodiment of the present application, in the outer boundary exploration mode, during the detection process of the cleaning device, the following steps 7 to 8 may also be performed:

[0151] Step 7: monitor a first angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device.

[0152] Step 8: If the cleaning device fails to detect the medium dividing point and the first angle change exceeds the first angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in situ along the second predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is detected.

[0153] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the following steps 9 and 10 may also be performed:

[0154] Step 9: During the process of the cleaning device rotating in situ in the second predetermined direction, a second angular change of the orientation of the cleaning device is recorded.

[0155] Step 10. If the second angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium boundary point exceeds the second angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium boundary point is re-detected, and the re-detected medium boundary point is recorded in the medium boundary point set; or, when the cleaning device rotates in place according to the second predetermined direction and detects the medium boundary point, the currently detected medium boundary point is recorded in the medium boundary point set, and the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium boundary point is re-detected, so as to adjust the exploration direction of the cleaning device and switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0156] It should be noted that, in the implementation mode, similarly, in the inner boundary exploration mode, during the detection process of the cleaning device, the third angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device is recorded; if the cleaning device fails to detect the medium dividing point, and the third angle change exceeds the third angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place in the first predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is detected.

[0157] Furthermore, in this embodiment, it is also included that, during the process of the cleaning device rotating in place according to the first predetermined direction, a fourth angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device is recorded; if the fourth angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium demarcation point exceeds the fourth angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place according to the second predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, and the re-detected medium demarcation point is recorded in the medium demarcation point set; or, when the cleaning device rotates in place according to the first predetermined direction and detects the medium demarcation point, the currently detected medium demarcation point is recorded in the medium demarcation point set, and the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place according to the second predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, so as to adjust the exploration direction of the cleaning device and switch to the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0158] In this embodiment, during the detection process of the cleaning device, a first angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device is recorded. The specific implementation method can be described with reference to FIG8 .

[0159] 8 , which shows a scene demonstration diagram for recording a first angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device in an embodiment of the present application.

[0160] In Figure 8, an example is taken of a cleaning device exploring a medium demarcation point in the second predetermined direction (in this embodiment, counterclockwise) in the outer boundary exploration mode. In this embodiment, when the cleaning device begins to enter the outer boundary mode, the direction of the front end of the cleaning device is taken as direction A. When the cleaning device detects the next medium demarcation point in the second predetermined direction, the direction of the front end of the cleaning device is taken as direction B, wherein the angle a between direction A and direction B is taken as the first angle variation. Similarly, when the cleaning device is in the inner boundary exploration mode, the third angle variable of the cleaning device can be recorded in the same manner.

[0161] In this embodiment, the first angle threshold, the second angle threshold, the third angle threshold, and the fourth angle threshold can be set to 60°, 90°, or other angles, which are not limited in this application.

[0162] In this embodiment, during the process of the cleaning device rotating in place according to the second predetermined direction, the second angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device is recorded; if the second angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium dividing point exceeds the second angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is re-detected, and the re-detected medium dividing point is recorded in the medium dividing point set. The specific implementation method can be explained in conjunction with Figure 9.

[0163] 9 , there is shown a scene demonstration diagram of controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is detected again in an embodiment of the present application.

[0164] In Figures 9(a)-(c), an example is taken of a cleaning robot in a cleaning device detecting the outline of a rectangular preset ground medium 1 in alternating switching between inner boundary exploration mode and outer boundary exploration mode, with clockwise as the first predetermined direction and counterclockwise as the second predetermined direction. The scenario corresponding to Figure 9(a) is: in outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning robot fails to detect the medium demarcation point at the corner of the preset ground medium 1, and the first angle change exceeds the first angle threshold; the scenario corresponding to Figure 9(b) is: the cleaning robot is controlled to rotate in situ in the second predetermined direction to detect the medium demarcation point; and the scenario corresponding to Figure 9(c) is: when the second angle change exceeds the second angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in situ in the first predetermined direction to re-detect the medium demarcation point.

[0165] In this embodiment, it should be noted that when the second angle change of the sweeping robot when detecting the medium boundary point does not exceed the second angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode to detect the medium boundary point, and the detected medium boundary point is recorded in the medium boundary point set.

[0166] In this embodiment, it is understandable that when the sweeping robot is in the scenario shown in FIG9(c), the sweeping robot has re-detected a non-preset ground medium signal, but the front end of the sweeping robot is facing the inner side of the preset ground medium 1, which is not suitable for executing the outer boundary exploration mode. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the exploration direction of the sweeping robot. When the front end of the sweeping robot is adjusted to continue to perform contour detection of the preset ground medium 1 in the inner boundary exploration mode according to the second predetermined exploration direction by rotating or moving, the cleaning device explores the next medium boundary point in the outer boundary exploration mode according to the second predetermined direction. In other embodiments, the sweeping robot has re-detected a non-preset ground medium signal, but the front end of the sweeping robot is facing the inner side of the preset ground medium 1. The sweeping robot can be directly controlled to execute the inner boundary exploration mode, and the sweeping robot can be controlled to perform exploration of the next medium boundary point in the inner boundary mode according to the first predetermined direction.

[0167] In this embodiment, during the process of the cleaning device exploring the preset ground medium contour, by recording the change in the orientation angle of the cleaning device in real time, when the cleaning device detects an obstacle, or when exploring an irregular preset ground medium, or when exploring the corner of a rectangular preset ground medium, the trajectory of the cleaning device can be controlled so as not to deviate too far from the edge of the preset ground medium. For example, if the trajectory of the cleaning device's travel path is controlled to be an arc, if the change in the orientation angle of the cleaning device is not recorded, when the cleaning device is at the corner of a rectangular carpet, an arc with a larger radius may be formed to detect the medium demarcation point. Based on this, by recording the change in the orientation angle of the cleaning device and adjusting the exploration trajectory of the cleaning device in a timely manner, the spacing between the explored medium demarcation points can be adjusted to maintain the appropriate spacing between the medium demarcation points, thereby improving the accuracy of the cleaning device's exploration of the preset ground medium contour.

[0168] In the present application, the control of the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction may further include the following steps:

[0169] The cleaning device is controlled to detect the medium dividing point in a predetermined direction until the detection of the cleaning device is interrupted, or until the distance between the medium dividing point detected by the cleaning device and the medium dividing point detected for the first time is less than a preset distance threshold, and the detection of the medium dividing point is stopped.

[0170] In this embodiment, it is understood that when the cleaning device detects an obstacle, insufficient power, human factors, etc., the exploration task of the preset ground medium contour will be interrupted, and the detection of the medium demarcation point will be stopped. If the cleaning device is not interrupted during the exploration process of the preset ground medium contour, it is understood that when the distance between the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device and the first detected medium demarcation point is less than the preset distance threshold, it means that the cleaning device has returned to the position where the first medium demarcation point was detected, and the exploration path of the preset ground medium has formed a closed loop, that is, the cleaning device has completed the exploration of the preset ground medium.

[0171] It should be noted that in the present application, the cleaning robot reaches the position of the first medium dividing point again, which does not mean that the cleaning device must return to the position coinciding with the first medium dividing point. When the distance between the cleaning device and the first medium dividing point is less than the preset distance threshold, it can also be determined that the cleaning robot has reached the first medium dividing point again.

[0172] Continuing to refer to FIG. 2 , step 230 , a preset ground medium profile is determined based on the medium demarcation point set.

[0173] In the present application, the medium demarcation point may include a preset medium demarcation point and a non-preset medium demarcation point. The preset medium demarcation point is a medium demarcation point determined when the cleaning device detects a non-preset ground medium signal in the inner boundary exploration mode. The non-preset medium demarcation point is a medium demarcation point determined when the cleaning device detects a preset ground medium signal in the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0174] Therefore, the cleaning device can obtain a set of medium demarcation points by controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation points in a predetermined direction in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0175] Furthermore, in an embodiment of step 230 shown in FIG2 , a preset ground medium profile is determined based on the medium demarcation point set, which can be specifically performed in any one of the following three ways:

[0176] The first method is to determine a preset ground medium profile based on a preset medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set.

[0177] The second method is to determine a preset ground medium profile based on non-preset medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set.

[0178] The third method is to determine a preset ground medium profile based on the preset medium demarcation points and the non-preset medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set.

[0179] In one embodiment of the present application, determining the preset ground medium profile based on the medium demarcation point set can be implemented in any one of the following four ways:

[0180] The first method is to connect the medium demarcation points in sequence according to the order in which the medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set are detected, so as to determine the preset ground medium profile.

[0181] Specifically, in order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, it will be described below with reference to FIG. 10 .

[0182] 10 , there is shown a schematic diagram of connecting the respective medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set in sequence according to the order in which they are detected to determine the preset ground medium profile in an embodiment of the present application.

[0183] As shown in FIG10 , after the cleaning device explores the preset ground medium 1 contour by alternately switching between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, a set of medium boundary points is obtained, and each medium boundary point is connected in sequence to obtain the preset ground medium contour.

[0184] The second method is to generate convex hull data based on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set, and determine the preset ground medium contour based on the convex hull data. Specifically, in order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, it will be described below with reference to FIG11.

[0185] 11 , there is shown a schematic diagram of generating convex hull data based on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set and determining the preset ground medium contour based on the convex hull data in an embodiment of the present application.

[0186] It is understandable that in the process of the cleaning equipment detecting the preset ground medium contour, there will be some inaccurate medium boundary points because the detection results of the sensors used to detect obstacles have a certain lag. Therefore, the convex hull data processing method is used to perform contour processing on the medium boundary points in the medium boundary point set to improve the accuracy of the preset ground medium contour processing.

[0187] The third method is to determine the preset ground medium profile by fitting each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set. Specifically, in order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, it will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0188] 12 , there is shown a schematic diagram of determining the preset ground medium profile by fitting each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set in an embodiment of the present application.

[0189] After the cleaning device explores the preset ground medium 1 contour in alternately switching between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, a set of medium boundary points is obtained, and each medium boundary point is fitted to obtain a relatively smooth contour of the preset ground medium.

[0190] The fourth method is to determine the preset ground medium contour by performing graphic matching processing on each medium boundary point in the medium boundary point set, which will be explained below in conjunction with Figure 13.

[0191] 13 , there is shown a schematic diagram of determining the preset ground medium contour by performing graphic matching processing on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set in an embodiment of the present application.

[0192] It is understood that the preset floor medium is typically of a regular shape. In some embodiments, the cleaning device connects or performs convex hull processing on each of the media demarcation points to obtain a first figure, and determines the outline of the preset floor medium by calculating the degree of match between the minimum polygon enclosing the first figure and the first figure. For example, if the cleaning device calculates that the minimum rectangle enclosing the first figure matches the first figure at 98%, and the minimum trapezoid enclosing the first figure matches the first image at 60%, then the minimum rectangle is determined to be the outline of the preset floor medium.

[0193] Exemplarily, when the cleaning device completes the detection of the preset ground medium 1 contour, the contour of the preset ground medium can be obtained by the above three methods, and then the contour of the preset ground medium 1 can be obtained by the graphic matching method, that is, a rectangular contour.

[0194] In this embodiment, after the cleaning equipment detects the preset ground medium contour, the detection record of the preset ground medium includes a set of medium boundary points, and the medium boundary point set includes preset medium boundary points and non-preset medium boundary points. The matching preset ground medium contour processing method can be determined based on the coordinate recording information of each medium boundary point. The specific contour processing method used is not limited here.

[0195] In one embodiment of the present application, the steps shown in FIG. 14 may also be performed.

[0196] 14, a flow chart of a method for detecting ground medium contours in an embodiment of the present application is shown. Specifically, the method includes steps 1101 to 1102:

[0197] Step 1101: If the cleaning device interrupts detection of the preset ground medium, the explored preset ground medium contour is determined based on the detected medium boundary point set.

[0198] Step 1102: Based on the explored preset ground medium contour, explore the unexplored preset ground medium.

[0199] It is understood that if the cleaning device interrupts its detection of the preset ground medium, the cleaning device's detection of the preset ground medium contour is incomplete, and the obtained preset ground medium contour only represents the contour of a portion of the preset ground medium. When the cleaning device explores the preset ground medium again during movement, if the explored medium boundary point is located in an area corresponding to the explored preset ground medium contour in the ground medium contour detection record, it indicates that the cleaning device has again detected an area of ​​the preset ground medium that has already been explored and its contour determined, and the already explored preset ground medium contour will not be explored again.

[0200] Furthermore, in this embodiment, based on the explored preset ground medium profile, the unexplored preset ground medium is explored, and steps 12 to 13 may be performed:

[0201] Step 12: Determine the first medium boundary point that is explored for the first time and the second medium boundary point that is explored for the last time on the preset ground medium contour that has been explored, and define the line between the first medium boundary point and the second medium boundary point as the inner edge line of the unexplored preset ground medium.

[0202] Step 13: Determine the outline of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium based on the explored medium boundary point and the inner edge line, and explore the outline of the unexplored area of ​​the preset ground medium based on the outline of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium.

[0203] It can be understood that the detection of the preset ground medium contour may be completed after one, two or more detections. Therefore, if the distance between the first medium dividing point and the second medium dividing point in the detection of the preset ground medium contour is less than the preset distance threshold, then the contour detection of the preset ground medium can be considered to be complete. If the distance between the first medium dividing point and the second medium dividing point in the detection of the preset ground medium contour is greater than the preset distance threshold, then it is necessary to define the line between the first medium dividing point and the second medium dividing point in the detection as the inner edge line of the undetected preset ground medium, determine the contour of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium based on the explored medium dividing point and the inner edge line, and explore the contour of the undetected area of ​​the preset ground medium based on the contour of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium.

[0204] It should be noted that, in a scenario where the cleaning device has incompletely detected the preset ground medium contour, when the cleaning device detects the preset ground medium contour again, it can obtain the preset ground medium contour information that has been explored in the cleaning device, and simultaneously obtain the coordinate information of the first medium demarcation point and the coordinate information of the second medium demarcation point in the inner edge line of the unexplored preset ground medium. Based on the coordinate information of the first medium demarcation point and the second medium demarcation point, the cleaning device can start from the position of the first medium demarcation point or a position nearby and detect the contour of the unexplored area in the preset ground medium again, or start from the position of the second medium demarcation point or a position nearby and detect the contour of the unexplored area in the preset ground medium again. It can be understood that it is also possible to start from any point on the contour of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium and detect the contour of the unexplored area in the preset ground medium again. This application does not limit the exploration starting point of the contour of the unexplored area in the preset ground medium.

[0205] In this embodiment, the cleaning device determines the outline of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium based on the explored medium demarcation point and the inner edge line; based on the outline of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium, the unexplored preset ground medium is explored. A specific implementation method may be to start from the first medium demarcation point or the second medium demarcation point position or a position near it, continue to explore the unexplored preset ground medium through the inner edge line, and when the distance between the detected medium demarcation point and the starting coordinate position is less than a preset distance threshold, the detection of the unexplored area in the preset ground medium is completed. Alternatively, it may be to start from one end of the inner edge line or a position near it, continue to explore the unexplored area in the preset ground medium without passing through the inner edge line, and when the distance between the detected medium demarcation point and the other end of the inner edge line is less than a preset distance threshold, the detection of the outline of the unexplored area in the preset ground medium is completed.

[0206] It should be noted that the above embodiment specifically defines the implementation details of exploring unexplored preset ground media based on the explored preset ground media profile. Of course, in other embodiments, for example, the location coordinates of historically explored areas recorded in the cleaning device may be used to control the cleaning device to avoid the location coordinates of the historically explored areas during a new exploration process, thereby achieving detection of the unexplored preset ground media profile.

[0207] It should be understood that different detection methods can be designed for the undetected preset ground medium according to specific circumstances, and this application does not make too many restrictions here.

[0208] In one embodiment of the present application, if the cleaning device has performed multiple exploration actions on the preset ground medium, the following steps 14 and 15 may also be performed:

[0209] Step 14: obtaining a preset ground medium profile determined by the cleaning device during the exploration behavior;

[0210] Step 15: If there is a common contour line between any two preset ground medium contours, the two preset ground medium contours are spliced ​​to obtain a spliced ​​preset ground medium contour.

[0211] It should be noted that the common contour line can be a contour line that completely overlaps between any two preset ground medium contours, or a contour line that fits and overlaps between any two preset ground medium contours, or a contour line between any two preset ground medium contours with a distance less than a preset distance threshold. This application does not limit this.

[0212] Specifically, in order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand this embodiment, it will be described below with reference to FIG. 15 .

[0213] 15 , which shows a schematic diagram of splicing any two preset ground medium contours to obtain the spliced ​​preset ground medium contours if a common contour line exists between the two preset ground medium contours in an embodiment of the present application.

[0214] As shown in Figure 15(a), area A of the preset ground medium is the area where the cleaning device explores the preset ground medium 1 for the first time, and area B of the preset ground medium is the area where the cleaning device explores the preset ground medium 1 for the second time; point a is the first medium demarcation point explored in area A of the preset ground medium, and point b is the second medium demarcation point explored in area A of the preset ground medium; point c is the first medium demarcation point explored in area B of the preset ground medium, and point d is the second medium demarcation point explored in area B of the preset ground medium; it can be understood that after the contour of the preset ground medium is detected for the first time, the line between point a and point b can be defined as the inner edge line to explore area B of the preset ground medium that has not been detected.

[0215] As shown in FIG15( b ), the corresponding scenario is as follows: the cleaning device explores the preset ground medium 1 for the first time, obtaining a set of medium demarcation points in region A of the preset ground medium. The media demarcation points in the set are sequentially connected in the order in which they were detected to obtain the outline of region A of the preset ground medium. The cleaning device explores the preset ground medium 1 for the second time, obtaining a set of medium demarcation points in region B of the preset ground medium. The media demarcation points in the set are sequentially connected in the order in which they were detected to obtain the outline of region B of the preset ground medium. It can be understood that because the distance between the line connecting points a and b in the outline of region A of the preset ground medium and the line connecting points c and d in the outline of region B of the preset ground medium is less than a preset distance threshold, it is determined that a common contour line exists between the outlines of region A of the preset ground medium and region B of the preset ground medium, and the contours of region A of the preset ground medium and region B of the preset ground medium are spliced ​​to obtain the spliced ​​outline of the preset ground medium 1.

[0216] It should be noted that the preset ground medium contour determined by the cleaning device during the exploration behavior can be obtained, and the determined preset ground medium contour can be spliced ​​according to the coordinate positions of the first medium dividing point and the second medium dividing point recorded in each detection of the preset ground medium contour. Different splicing methods can also be designed according to the needs of the situation. As long as the determined preset ground medium contour can be spliced, this application does not limit it here.

[0217] In this embodiment, by splicing multiple preset ground medium contours to obtain the spliced ​​preset ground medium contour, the cleaning equipment can perform multiple explorations of the preset ground medium and splice them together when a single exploration is incomplete, thereby ensuring the integrity of the cleaning equipment's exploration of the ground medium contour.

[0218] In the technical solutions provided in some embodiments of the present application, during the detection process of the preset ground medium contour by the cleaning device, the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode are alternately switched, and the cleaning device is controlled to detect the medium boundary points in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode in a predetermined direction. After obtaining the set of medium boundary points, the preset ground medium contour is obtained after data processing of the medium boundary points in the set. The technical solution of the present application can be used to control the cleaning device to detect the ground medium contour during movement. Based on this, the cleaning device reduces the rotation action in place. On the one hand, it can reduce the detection power consumption of the cleaning device to a certain extent. On the other hand, it can save detection time and improve the detection efficiency of the ground medium contour.

[0219] The following describes an embodiment of the device of the present application, which can be used to perform the ground medium contour detection method in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present application. For details not disclosed in the embodiment of the device of the present application, please refer to the embodiment of the ground medium contour detection method in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present application.

[0220] 16 , which shows a block diagram of a ground medium contour detection device in an embodiment of the present application. The ground medium contour detection device 1600 includes: a trigger unit 1601 , a control unit 1602 , and a determination unit 1603 .

[0221] Among them, the trigger unit 1601 is used to trigger the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode in response to the cleaning device detecting the preset ground medium; the control unit 1602 is used to control the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to obtain a medium demarcation point set; the determination unit 1603 is used to determine the preset ground medium contour based on the medium demarcation point set.

[0222] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the trigger unit 1601 also includes: if at least one medium demarcation point is detected in the inner boundary exploration mode, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; if at least one medium demarcation point is detected in the outer boundary exploration mode, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0223] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: if the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to perform a first predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; if the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the outer boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to perform a second predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0224] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place in a first preset direction until the cleaning device detects the medium demarcation point, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; or, controlling the cleaning device to retreat or turn around until the cleaning device detects the medium demarcation point, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; wherein the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode is opposite to the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0225] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: in the inner boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to move in a first predetermined direction to detect the medium demarcation point, the first predetermined direction including a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction; in the outer boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to move in a second predetermined direction to detect the medium demarcation point, the second predetermined direction being opposite to the first predetermined direction.

[0226] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: in the outer boundary exploration mode, during the detection process of the cleaning device, monitoring the first angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device; if the cleaning device does not detect the medium dividing point, and the first angle change exceeds the first angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place in the second predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is detected.

[0227] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: recording a second angle change in the orientation of the cleaning device during the process of the cleaning device rotating in place according to the second predetermined direction; if the second angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium demarcation point exceeds a second angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, and recording the re-detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set; or, when the cleaning device rotates in place according to the second predetermined direction and detects the medium demarcation point, recording the currently detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set, and controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, so as to adjust the exploration direction of the cleaning device and switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0228] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: in the inner boundary exploration mode, during the detection process of the cleaning device, monitoring the third angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device; if the cleaning device fails to detect the medium dividing point, and the third angle change exceeds the third angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place in the first predetermined direction until the medium dividing point is detected.

[0229] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: recording a fourth angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device during the process of the cleaning device rotating in place according to the first predetermined direction; if the fourth angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium demarcation point exceeds a fourth angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the second predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, and recording the re-detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set; or, when the cleaning device rotates in place according to the first predetermined direction and detects the medium demarcation point, recording the currently detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set, and controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place according to the second predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, so as to adjust the exploration direction of the cleaning device and switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

[0230] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium dividing point in a predetermined direction until the detection of the cleaning device is interrupted, or until the distance between the medium dividing point detected by the cleaning device and the medium dividing point detected for the first time is less than a preset distance threshold.

[0231] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: the medium demarcation point includes a preset medium demarcation point and a non-preset medium demarcation point, the preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode, and the non-preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode.

[0232] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the control unit 1602 also includes: determining a preset ground medium profile based on a preset medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set; or, determining a preset ground medium profile based on a non-preset medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set; or, determining a preset ground medium profile based on a preset medium demarcation point and a non-preset medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set.

[0233] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the above solution, the determining unit 1603 further includes:

[0234] In the order in which each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set is detected, each medium demarcation point is connected in sequence to determine the preset ground medium contour; or, based on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set, convex hull data is generated, and the preset ground medium contour is determined based on the convex hull data; or, the preset ground medium contour is determined by fitting each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set; or, the preset ground medium contour is determined by graphic matching each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set.

[0235] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the determination unit 1603 also includes: if the cleaning equipment interrupts the detection of the preset ground medium, then based on the set of detected medium boundary points, the explored preset ground medium contour is determined; based on the explored preset ground medium contour, the undetected preset ground medium is explored.

[0236] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the determination unit 1603 also includes: determining the first medium dividing point that was explored for the first time and the second medium dividing point that was explored for the last time on the explored preset ground medium contour, and defining the line between the first medium dividing point and the second medium dividing point as the inner edge line of the unexplored preset ground medium; based on the explored medium dividing point and the inner edge line, determining the contour of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium; based on the contour of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium, exploring the undetected preset ground medium.

[0237] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned scheme, the determination unit 1603 also includes: obtaining a preset ground medium contour determined by the cleaning device during the exploration behavior; if there is a common contour line between any two preset ground medium contours, then splicing the any two preset ground medium contours to obtain a spliced ​​preset ground medium contour.

[0238] In some embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned solution, the determining unit 1603 further includes: a detection trajectory of the cleaning device detecting the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction includes an arc trajectory.

[0239] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores at least one program code. The at least one program code is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the operations performed by the ground medium contour detection method described above.

[0240] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present application also provides a cleaning device. Referring to Figure 17, a structural schematic diagram of the cleaning device in an embodiment of the present application is shown. The cleaning device includes one or more memories 1704, one or more processors 1702, and at least one computer program (program code) stored on the memory 1704 and runnable on the processor 1702. When the processor 1702 executes the computer program, the ground medium contour detection method as described above is implemented.

[0241] In FIG17 , the bus architecture (represented by bus 1700) may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and bus 1700 links together various circuits including one or more processors represented by processor 1702 and memory represented by memory 1704. Bus 1700 may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and are therefore not further described herein. Bus interface 1705 provides an interface between bus 1700 and receiver 1701 and transmitter 1703. Receiver 1701 and transmitter 1703 may be the same component, namely a transceiver (e.g., the ultrasonic sensor 101, drop sensor 102, distance sensor 106, collision sensor 107, etc., provided in the sweeping robot as shown in FIG1 ), providing a unit for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. The processor 1702 is responsible for managing the bus 1700 and general processing, while the memory 1704 may be used to store data used by the processor 1702 when performing operations.

[0242] The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope and spirit of this application and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or a combination of any of these. Furthermore, the functional units may be integrated into a single processing unit, each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit.

[0243] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content can be implemented in other ways. Among them, the device embodiments described above are only exemplary. For example, the division of the units can be a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of units or modules, which can be electrical or other forms.

[0244] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components of the control device may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment.

[0245] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a mobile hard disk, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0246] The foregoing is merely an embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Various modifications and variations are possible for those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, or improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included within the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for detecting the contour of a ground medium, characterized in that: The method comprises: In response to the cleaning device detecting a preset ground medium, triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between an inner boundary exploration mode and an outer boundary exploration mode; In the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction to obtain a medium demarcation point set; Based on the medium demarcation point set, a preset ground medium profile is determined.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode includes: If at least one medium demarcation point is detected in the inner boundary exploration mode, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; If at least one medium dividing point is detected in the outer boundary search mode, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the inner boundary search mode.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Triggering the cleaning device to alternately switch between the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode includes: If the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the inner boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to perform a first predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; If the cleaning device detects an obstacle in the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to perform a second predetermined action until a medium demarcation point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The controlling the cleaning device to perform a first predetermined action until a medium boundary point is detected, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode, includes: Controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place in a first preset direction until the cleaning device detects a medium boundary point, triggering the cleaning device to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; Alternatively, the cleaning device is controlled to move backward or around until the cleaning device detects that the medium is separated. When the boundary point is reached, the cleaning device is triggered to switch to the outer boundary exploration mode; wherein the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode is opposite to the exploration direction of the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein In the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode, controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction includes: In the inner boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to move in a first predetermined direction to detect a medium demarcation point, wherein the first predetermined direction includes a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction; In the outer boundary exploration mode, the cleaning device is controlled to move in a second predetermined direction to detect a medium boundary point, where the second predetermined direction is opposite to the first predetermined direction.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: In the outer boundary exploration mode, during the detection process of the cleaning device, monitoring a first angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device; If the cleaning device fails to detect the medium dividing point and the first angle change exceeds a first angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in situ along the second predetermined direction until a medium dividing point is detected.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: During the process of the cleaning device rotating in situ according to the second predetermined direction, recording a second angular change in the orientation of the cleaning device; If the second angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium demarcation point exceeds a second angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in place along the first predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, and recording the re-detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set; Alternatively, when the cleaning device rotates in place according to the second predetermined direction and detects the medium boundary point, the currently detected medium boundary point is recorded in the medium boundary point set, and the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place according to the first predetermined direction until the medium boundary point is detected again, so as to adjust the exploration direction of the cleaning device and switch to the inner boundary exploration mode.

8. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: In the inner boundary exploration mode, during the detection process of the cleaning device, monitoring a third angle change of the orientation of the cleaning device; If the cleaning device fails to detect the medium dividing point and the third angle change exceeds a third angle threshold, the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place along the first predetermined direction until a medium dividing point is detected.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: During the process of the cleaning device rotating in situ along the first predetermined direction, recording a fourth angular change of the orientation of the cleaning device; If the fourth angle change of the cleaning device when detecting the medium demarcation point exceeds a fourth angle threshold, controlling the cleaning device to rotate in situ along the second predetermined direction until the medium demarcation point is re-detected, and recording the re-detected medium demarcation point into the medium demarcation point set; Alternatively, when the cleaning device rotates in place according to the first predetermined direction and detects the medium boundary point, the currently detected medium boundary point is recorded in the medium boundary point set, and the cleaning device is controlled to rotate in place according to the second predetermined direction until the medium boundary point is detected again, so as to adjust the exploration direction of the cleaning device and switch to the outer boundary exploration mode.

10. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The controlling the cleaning device to detect the medium demarcation point in a predetermined direction includes: The cleaning device is controlled to detect the medium dividing point in a predetermined direction until the detection by the cleaning device is interrupted, or until the distance between the medium dividing point detected by the cleaning device and the medium dividing point detected for the first time is less than a preset distance threshold.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein The medium demarcation point includes a preset medium demarcation point and a non-preset medium demarcation point. The preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device in the inner boundary exploration mode, and the non-preset medium demarcation point is the medium demarcation point detected by the cleaning device in the outer boundary exploration mode.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The step of determining a preset ground medium profile based on the medium demarcation point set includes: Determining a preset ground medium profile based on a preset medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set; Alternatively, a preset ground medium profile is determined based on a non-preset medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set; Alternatively, a preset ground medium profile is determined based on the preset medium demarcation points and non-preset medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein The step of determining a preset ground medium profile based on the medium demarcation point set includes: Connecting the medium demarcation points in sequence according to the order in which the medium demarcation points in the medium demarcation point set are detected to determine the preset ground medium profile; Alternatively, convex hull data is generated based on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set, and the preset ground medium contour is determined based on the convex hull data; Alternatively, the preset ground medium profile is determined by performing fitting processing on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set; Alternatively, the preset ground medium profile is determined by performing graphic matching processing on each medium demarcation point in the medium demarcation point set.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method further comprises: If the cleaning device interrupts detection of the preset ground medium, determining the explored preset ground medium profile based on the detected set of medium demarcation points; Based on the explored preset ground medium contour, unexplored preset ground media are explored.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The exploring of unexplored preset ground media based on the explored preset ground medium contour includes: Determining a first medium dividing point that is explored for the first time and a second medium dividing point that is explored for the last time on the explored preset ground medium contour, and defining a line between the first medium dividing point and the second medium dividing point as an inner edge line of the unexplored preset ground medium; Based on the explored medium demarcation point and the inner edge line, the outline of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium is determined; based on the outline of the explored area of ​​the preset ground medium, the unexplored preset ground medium is explored.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method further comprises: Obtaining a preset ground medium profile determined by the cleaning device during the exploration behavior; If a common contour line exists between any two preset ground medium contours, the two preset ground medium contours are spliced ​​to obtain a spliced ​​preset ground medium contour.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that The detection track of the cleaning device for detecting the medium dividing point in a predetermined direction includes an arc track.

18. A ground medium contour detection device, characterized in that: The device comprises: a triggering unit, configured to trigger the cleaning device to alternately switch between an inner boundary exploration mode and an outer boundary exploration mode in response to the cleaning device detecting a preset ground medium; A control unit, configured to control the cleaning device to detect medium demarcation points in a predetermined direction in the inner boundary exploration mode and the outer boundary exploration mode to obtain a set of medium demarcation points; A determination unit is used to determine a preset ground medium profile based on the medium demarcation point set.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores at least one program code, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the operations performed by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

20. A cleaning device, characterized in that: The method comprises one or more processors and one or more memories, wherein at least one program code is stored in the one or more memories, and the at least one program code is loaded and executed by the one or more processors to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

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