Method of controlling a mowing robot and mowing robot

Abstract

The application provides a method for controlling a mowing robot and the mowing robot. The method for controlling the mowing robot comprises: acquiring an image of an area in a forward direction of the mowing robot during walking; when a high grass area is identified, determining whether a preset condition is met according to a time interval at which the high grass area is identified and a size of the high grass area; when the preset condition is not met, controlling the mowing robot to pass through the high grass area in a first walking mode, the first walking mode comprising controlling the mowing robot to turn and controlling the mowing robot to continue to move forward; and when the preset condition is met, controlling the mowing robot to pass through the high grass area in a second walking mode, the second walking mode comprising controlling the mowing robot to move in an arch shape or a spiral shape. The application enables the mowing robot to adopt different walking modes for different high grass areas, so that the high grass area meeting the preset condition can be mowed in a concentrated manner, and it is not necessary to move to the current high grass area again for supplementary mowing.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of lawn mowing robot technology, and more specifically, to a method for controlling a lawn mowing robot and a lawn mowing robot. Background Technology

[0002] The typical method used by lawn mowing robots is to locate the lawn using GPS, laser, UWB or other methods and create an electronic map of the lawn, then plan the path, and finally perform path tracking to complete the traversal.

[0003] Existing vision-based lawnmowers, after identifying uncut areas through image processing, typically determine their turning direction and perform pass-through mowing based on the distribution of these uncut areas. However, when only clumps of tall grass remain in the lawn, the pass-through mowing method can only cut a portion of the tall grass, not all of it. Furthermore, it takes a long time for the remaining tall grass in these areas to be rediscovered, thus impacting mowing efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a method for controlling a lawnmower robot and a lawnmower robot that can save mowing time and improve mowing efficiency. The various aspects involved in this application are described below.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method for controlling a lawnmower robot is provided for controlling the lawnmower robot to walk in a lawn area to perform lawn mowing operations. The method includes: during walking, acquiring an image of the area in the direction the lawnmower robot is moving to identify tall grass areas; when a tall grass area is identified, determining whether a preset condition is met based on the time interval between the identification of the tall grass area and the size of the tall grass area; when the preset condition is not met, controlling the lawnmower robot to pass through the tall grass area in a first walking mode, the first walking mode including controlling the lawnmower robot to turn, and after the lawnmower robot turns, controlling the lawnmower robot to continue moving forward; when the preset condition is met, controlling the lawnmower robot to pass through the tall grass area in a second walking mode, the second walking mode including controlling the lawnmower robot to walk in a bow-shaped or spiral pattern.

[0006] In a second aspect, a lawnmower robot is provided, comprising: a memory for storing a computer program; and a processor that, when executing the computer program, implements the steps of the method described in the first aspect.

[0007] Thirdly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed, is used to implement the method as described in the first aspect.

[0008] This application determines tall grass areas that meet preset conditions based on the time interval between the identification of tall grass areas and the size of the tall grass areas. It then controls a lawnmower robot to move through these areas in a bow-shaped or spiral pattern. This allows the lawnmower robot to perform concentrated mowing on the tall grass areas that meet the preset conditions, completely removing the tall grass in the current area without needing to relocate to the current area for re-mowing, thus saving mowing time and improving mowing efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0009] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating the method for controlling a lawnmower robot provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0010] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the tall grass area and the forward direction of the cutter head in an embodiment of this application.

[0011] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating one possible implementation of the method.

[0012] Figure 4 yes Figure 3 A schematic diagram of step S310 of the method.

[0013] Figure 5 yes Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating another possible implementation of the method.

[0014] Figure 6 yes Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating another possible implementation of the method.

[0015] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the constituent units or some constituent units of the lawnmower robot provided in the embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0016] The technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments.

[0017] Automation equipment is increasingly integrated into human life and production. For example, large lawns are often found in parks, golf courses, and residential areas for aesthetic purposes. To improve lawn mowing efficiency, lawn mowing robots that do not require human intervention are typically used to cut tall grass in the lawn area. Tall grass is defined as grass that is taller than a preset value, which is the grass that needs to be cut.

[0018] A lawnmower robot, also known as an automated lawnmower, is a type of robot that uses sensors to perceive its surroundings and its own state, understands and judges complex environments, makes decisions and plans accordingly, and moves towards a target to complete a specific task. It can operate by accepting user-input commands or by running automatically according to a pre-installed program. The typical method used by lawnmower robots is to locate the lawn using GPS, laser, UWB, or other methods to create an electronic map, then plan a path, and finally track the path to complete the traversal.

[0019] Existing vision-based lawnmowers, after identifying tall grass areas (uncut areas) through image processing, typically determine the robot's direction based on the distribution of these areas. After turning, the robot travels in a straight line through the tall grass areas while simultaneously performing mowing. This mowing method is called a through-the-way or turning-through-the-way operation. However, when only clumps of tall grass remain in relatively distant areas on the lawn, and these areas are large, the turning-through-the-way mowing method can only cut a portion of the tall grass, not completely remove it. The remaining tall grass takes a long time to be rediscovered, thus affecting coverage efficiency and resulting in low mowing efficiency.

[0020] Therefore, it is necessary to design a technical solution for controlling a lawnmower robot with high mowing efficiency.

[0021] Based on this, this application proposes a method for controlling a lawnmower robot. Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating the method for controlling a lawnmower robot provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 1 This method is used to control a lawnmower robot to move within a lawn area to perform mowing operations. The boundaries of the lawn area can be predetermined or indefinite; for example, the lawn area can be a designated area with electronic boundaries. Figure 1 As shown, the method for controlling a lawnmower robot according to the embodiments of this application mainly includes steps S110 to S140, which are described in detail below.

[0022] It should be noted that the sequence number of each step in the embodiments of this application does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this invention.

[0023] In step S110, during the walking process, an image of the area in the direction the lawnmower is moving forward is acquired to identify areas with tall grass.

[0024] The lawnmower robot can move in either a high-grass-finding, pass-through mowing operation or a random mowing operation. In some embodiments, the lawnmower robot can move and mow simultaneously while identifying high-grass areas. In other embodiments, the lawnmower robot can move without mowing while identifying high-grass areas; that is, the blades are not activated until the high-grass area is found, at which point the blades are activated to mow.

[0025] In step S120, when a tall grass area is identified, it is determined whether a preset condition is met based on the time interval between the identification of the tall grass area and the size of the tall grass area. In other words, it can be determined whether the current tall grass area is the target tall grass area based on the time interval between the identification of the tall grass area and the size of the tall grass area.

[0026] During its movement, the lawnmower robot can determine whether the lawn area consists of multiple, widely spaced tall grass patches by identifying the time intervals between these patches. This means that most of the tall grass has been cut, leaving only scattered clumps of tall grass in different locations. Different mowing methods can be employed depending on the size of these widely spaced tall grass patches, improving efficiency. For example, for smaller tall grass patches, the robot can cut the grass in that area in a single pass. For larger tall grass patches, a point-cutting method can be used to concentrate the cutting of the grass in that area, avoiding the time wasted by repeatedly moving to that area and thus improving mowing efficiency.

[0027] In step S130, when the preset conditions are not met, the lawnmower robot is controlled to pass through the tall grass area in a first walking mode. The first walking mode includes controlling the lawnmower robot to turn, and after the lawnmower robot turns, controlling the lawnmower robot to continue moving forward. It is understood that the lawnmower robot usually travels in a straight line between any two adjacent turning points.

[0028] The first walking mode can be, for example, a turning-through mowing operation mode or a random mowing mode. In some embodiments, the first walking mode may include multiple turning points, the determination of which is at least associated with the boundaries and obstacles of the lawn area, and the mowing robot travels in a straight line between any two adjacent turning points.

[0029] In step S140, when the preset conditions are met, the lawn mower is controlled to pass through the tall grass area in a second walking mode. The second walking mode includes controlling the lawn mower to walk in a bow-shaped or spiral pattern.

[0030] In some embodiments, the path of the second walking method may be associated with the boundary of the target tall grass area. For example, the second walking method may include multiple turning points located at the boundary of the target tall grass area. The second walking method may also be referred to as a fixed-point operation method targeting the target tall grass area.

[0031] In this embodiment, when the time interval and size of the identified tall grass area meet preset conditions, the mowing robot is controlled to pass through the tall grass area in a bow-shaped or spiral pattern to perform targeted mowing. This allows the mowing robot to perform concentrated mowing on the tall grass area that meets the preset conditions, i.e., the target tall grass area, without having to move back to the current tall grass area for re-mowing, thus saving mowing time and improving mowing efficiency.

[0032] The method for controlling a lawnmower robot according to embodiments of this application will be further described below with reference to some possible implementations.

[0033] In some implementations, the step S120, which determines whether the preset conditions are met based on the time interval between two consecutive identifications of tall grass areas and the size of the tall grass areas, may include: if the time interval between two consecutive identifications of tall grass areas is greater than a first duration threshold, or the average time interval between two or more identifications of tall grass areas is greater than a second duration threshold, and the length parameter of the tall grass area is greater than a first length threshold, then the preset conditions are met; otherwise, the preset conditions are not met. Here, the first duration threshold is greater than the second duration threshold, and the length parameter represents the size of the tall grass area.

[0034] For example, the first duration threshold can be 90 seconds (s) or 80 seconds, and the second duration threshold can be 60 seconds or 50 seconds. Having an average time interval between multiple (more than two) instances of tall grass being detected that is greater than the second duration threshold helps improve the accuracy of judging the mowing status of the lawn area. The first length threshold can be less than or equal to the effective working width of the cutter head; for example, the first length threshold can be 0.8 times the cutter head diameter.

[0035] The size of the tall grass region can be determined by whether the length parameter of the tall grass region is greater than the first length threshold.

[0036] The shape of the tall grass area is usually irregular. In some implementations, the length parameter can be the diameter of the largest inscribed circle of the tall grass area. For example... Figure 2 The dashed line in the diagram represents the maximum inscribed circle 211 of the tall grass region 210. The length parameter can be the diameter of the maximum inscribed circle 211. If the diameter of the maximum inscribed circle 211 of the tall grass region 210 is greater than a first length threshold, the mowing robot cannot complete the current tall grass region in a single pass. The maximum inscribed circle is also called the maximum circumscribed circle.

[0037] In other implementations, the length parameter can also be the maximum length of the tall grass area along the direction perpendicular to the mowing robot's travel direction; see reference [link / reference needed]. Figure 2 The maximum length of the tall grass area perpendicular to the mowing robot's direction of travel can be understood as the maximum length between the left and right sides of the tall grass area 210, which is the length of the long side closest to the blade 220. When the tall grass area is irregularly shaped, the maximum length of the tall grass area perpendicular to the mowing robot's direction of travel can be determined by the maximum distance between the tall grass on the left and right sides of the tall grass area. When the maximum length of the tall grass area perpendicular to the mowing robot's direction of travel is less than a first length threshold, such as 0.8 times the blade diameter, the mowing robot travels in a straight line along the direction of travel, and can cut all the tall grass in the tall grass area. However, if the maximum length of the tall grass area perpendicular to the mowing robot's direction of travel is greater than the first length threshold, the mowing robot travels in a straight line along the direction of travel, but cannot cut the current tall grass area completely, resulting in most of the tall grass not being cut. Therefore, a second walking method can be adopted to cut the tall grass area at a fixed point, which can save mowing time and improve mowing efficiency.

[0038] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating one possible implementation of the method is shown below. In some implementations, if the second walking mode is a bow-shaped pattern, controlling the lawnmower robot to walk in a bow-shaped pattern may include steps S310 to S340, which are described in detail below.

[0039] In step S310, the positional relationship of the current working point of the lawnmower relative to the tall grass area is determined based on the image of the tall grass area along the direction of travel of the lawnmower. The positional relationship may include, for example, that the current working point of the lawnmower corresponds to the left side of the centerline of the tall grass area, parallel to its direction of travel.

[0040] In some embodiments, the lawnmower is a binocular vision lawnmower, which may include independent first and second image modules to acquire first and second images of a region in the forward direction, and use the first and second images to obtain a corresponding stereoscopic image, thereby counting the number of tall grasses located on both sides of the center line in the stereoscopic image. In other embodiments, the lawnmower may also be other stereoscopic vision lawnmowers or monocular vision lawnmowers.

[0041] In step S320, the first working direction of the lawn mowing robot is determined based on the positional relationship.

[0042] In some embodiments, when the number of tall grasses in the tall grass area corresponding to the first side in the forward direction of the mowing robot is greater than the number of tall grasses in the tall grass area corresponding to the second side, the first working direction is determined to be the direction from the current working point of the mowing robot to the first side, and the second side is the side opposite to the first side. The first side can be the left or right side. This helps to minimize the missed mowing areas.

[0043] Figure 4 yes Figure 3 A schematic diagram illustrating step S320 of the method for determining the first working direction. (See diagram for example.) Figure 4 As shown in the left part, when the number of tall grasses in the tall grass area corresponding to the left side of the lawnmower's forward direction is greater than the number of tall grasses in the tall grass area corresponding to the right side, the first working direction is determined to be the direction from the lawnmower's current working point to the left. For example... Figure 4 As shown in the middle part, when the number of tall grasses in the right-hand tall grass area corresponding to the forward direction of the lawnmower robot is greater than the number of tall grasses in the left-hand tall grass area, the first working direction is determined to be the direction from the current working point of the lawnmower robot to the right.

[0044] In some implementations, when the difference in the number of tall grasses in the tall grass areas corresponding to the left and right sides of the mowing robot's forward direction is less than a preset threshold, indicating that there is no significant difference in the number of tall grasses in the tall grass areas corresponding to the left and right sides of the mowing robot's forward direction, the first working direction is determined to be the direction from the current working point of the mowing robot to any side of the mowing robot's forward direction. The preset threshold can be a certain percentage of the number of tall grasses in the tall grass areas; for example, the preset threshold can be 1% of the number of tall grasses in the tall grass areas. Figure 4 As shown in the right side, when there is no significant difference in the number of tall grasses in the tall grass areas corresponding to the left and right sides of the lawnmower's forward direction, that is, when the current working point of the lawnmower corresponds to the middle part of the tall grass area, the first working direction is determined to be the direction from the current working point of the lawnmower to either the left or right side.

[0045] In step S330, after controlling the mowing robot to turn to the first working direction, the mowing robot is controlled to move forward along the first working direction. That is, after the turning is completed, the robot is controlled to move straight to mow the grass.

[0046] In step S340, when there is no tall grass within a first preset distance in the forward direction of the mowing robot, the robot is controlled to move towards the side where the tall grass area is located at a second preset distance interval, then turn to a second working direction and proceed along the second working direction, which is opposite to the first working direction. The second preset distance can be determined based on the diameter of the mowing robot's blade and the cutting overlap. The second preset distance can be 0.5 to 0.8 times the diameter of the blade, such as the radius of the blade. That is, when there is no tall grass in front, the robot moves sideways and turns around to continue the fixed-point mowing operation.

[0047] In some implementations, the aforementioned control of the lawnmower robot to move towards the side with tall grass at intervals of a second preset distance and then turn to a second working direction can include: turning in place to a third working direction, traveling a straight distance along the third working direction to reach the second preset distance, and then turning in place to the second working direction, wherein the third working direction is perpendicular to the first working direction and points towards the area with tall grass. Alternatively, it can move along a semi-circular arc to turn to the second working direction, wherein the diameter of the semi-circular arc is the second preset distance.

[0048] In some implementations, when it is necessary to turn around from the first working direction to the second working direction for the first time, the side-shifting turn can be avoided. Instead, the turn can be made in place, and the person can walk along the previous path in the opposite direction again. This can completely remove the tall grass on the first working row, which helps to completely cut the grass in the entire tall grass area and avoids missing any tall grass.

[0049] In some implementations, if the second walking pattern is a bow-shaped pattern, then controlling the lawnmower robot to walk in a bow-shaped pattern may further include an ending step, namely: determining whether any one of the following preset ending conditions is met; when met, controlling the lawnmower robot to stop walking in the second walking pattern; the preset ending conditions include:

[0050] 1) The boundary or obstacle of the lawn area has been identified. This means that the current grass is near the boundary or obstacle of the lawn area, and point cutting can be stopped to execute the boundary or obstacle control logic.

[0051] 2) When there are no tall grasses on one side and in front of the lawnmower, the lawnmower travels a distance that reaches the second length threshold. The second length threshold can be, for example, 0.3 meters, representing that the current grass has been cut.

[0052] 3) The straight-line travel distance of the lawnmower robot is greater than the third length threshold, and the third length threshold is greater than the second length threshold. The second length threshold can be, for example, 1 meter. The straight-line travel distance of the lawnmower robot can be the straight-line travel distance of the lawnmower robot in a single operation along the first or second working direction, that is, the travel distance before each turn.

[0053] In cases where conditions 1) and 2) are met, after the current spot mowing operation ends, the high-grass-finding spot mowing will continue. In case 3), due to the complex shape of the lawn, large patches of lawn may remain uncut even after the preset conditions are met. These large patches of lawn do not require spot mowing using the second walking mode. Therefore, spot mowing using the second walking mode must be stopped, and the first walking mode for finding highgrass, such as through mowing, must be performed until the preset conditions are met again, at which point spot mowing using the second walking mode will resume. This process will continue in a cyclical manner.

[0054] Figure 5 yes Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating another possible implementation of the method is shown below. In some implementations, if the second walking mode is a spiral pattern, controlling the lawnmower robot to walk in a spiral pattern may include steps S510 to S530, which are described in detail below.

[0055] In step S510, the boundary of the tall grass region is determined based on the identified tall grass region. In this step, the identified tall grass region is a tall grass region that meets preset conditions.

[0056] In step S520, the spiral-progressive route is determined based on the boundary of the tall grass area. The spiral-progressive route can be determined based on the boundary of the tall grass area and the degree of overlap in the cuts.

[0057] In step S530, the lawnmower robot is controlled to walk through the tall grass area in a spiral-shaped, progressive manner from the outside to the inside.

[0058] In some implementations, before determining whether the preset conditions are met based on the time interval and size of the identified tall grass area in step S120, the method of this embodiment may further include: the time taken for the lawnmower robot to mow the tall grass area based on the first walking mode has exceeded a third time threshold, such as 1 hour or 2 hours. That is, the lawn mowing operation in the lawn area has been roughly completed, but there may be some missed areas.

[0059] In this embodiment, when the time interval and size of the identified tall grass area meet preset conditions, the mowing robot is controlled to pass through the tall grass area in a bow-shaped or spiral pattern to perform fixed-point mowing. This allows the mowing robot to perform concentrated mowing operations on the tall grass area without having to move back to the current tall grass area for re-mowing, thus saving mowing time and improving mowing efficiency.

[0060] Figure 6 yes Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating another possible implementation of the method. Figure 6 In this method, the first walking mode can be a turning-through mowing operation, and the second walking mode can be a bow-shaped movement. When only a few clumps of tall grass remain in the lawn area, each time a tall grass area is discovered, the second walking mode is used to mow it at that specific spot, thus completely removing the tall grass in that area. Figure 6 As shown, the method for controlling a lawnmower robot according to an embodiment of this application may include steps S610 to S640, which are described in detail below.

[0061] In step S610, during the walking process, an image of the area in the direction the lawnmower is moving forward is acquired to identify areas with tall grass.

[0062] The primary mode of movement for a lawnmower robot can be a turning-through mowing operation.

[0063] In step S620, based on the time interval between identifying tall grass areas and the size of the tall grass areas, it is determined whether the preset conditions are met.

[0064] In some embodiments, when the lawn mowing robot first starts, it can perform straight-line mowing operations. After a period of time (i.e., a third time threshold), it is determined whether a preset condition is met. If the condition is met, the process proceeds to step S630; otherwise, it proceeds to step S650. In other embodiments, the step of determining whether the preset condition is met can be performed when the robot starts up and begins mowing.

[0065] The preset conditions can be: the time interval between two consecutive detections of tall grass areas is greater than a first time threshold, or the average time interval between two or more detections of tall grass areas is greater than a second time threshold, and the length parameter of the tall grass area is greater than a first length threshold. Based on the time interval between the detections of tall grass areas, it helps to understand the condition of the lawn area, that is, whether the lawn area consists of multiple distant tall grass areas. Depending on the size of the tall grass areas, appropriate mowing methods can be used, which helps to improve mowing efficiency.

[0066] In step S630, if preset conditions are met, the lawnmower robot is controlled to pass through the tall grass area in a second walking mode. The second walking mode can be controlling the lawnmower robot to walk in a bow-shaped pattern.

[0067] If a tall grass area meets preset conditions, it is designated as the target tall grass area. For this area, a bow-shaped mowing pattern is prioritized. Specifically, the robot first turns to the side with more tall grass in the target area to reduce missed areas. If there is no significant difference in the amount of tall grass on the left and right sides, the robot turns to either side to begin mowing. When there is no more tall grass in front of the robot, it turns sideways to continue the targeted mowing operation.

[0068] Lateral turning can be achieved either by making a right-angle turn at a predetermined interval (i.e., a second preset distance) or by moving in a semi-circular arc. For example, a lateral turning is achieved by turning 90 degrees in place to the third working direction, then moving the second preset distance (which could be the radius of the cutterhead), and then turning 90 degrees again in place to the second working direction. The diameter of the semi-circular arc can be the second preset distance. These motion operations can be well completed in a short time by integrating the control inertial measurement unit (IMU) and wheel odometer.

[0069] In step S640, when the preset termination condition is met, the lawnmower robot is controlled to stop passing through the tall grass area in a bow-shaped manner.

[0070] The lawnmower will stop passing through tall grass areas in a bow-shaped pattern and end the current fixed-point mowing operation when the following situations occur: 1) it encounters a boundary or obstacle; 2) it travels a second preset distance, for example, 0.3 meters, while there is no tall grass on the other side of the straight-line travel and no tall grass in front; 3) the straight-line travel distance is greater than the third preset distance, for example, 1 meter.

[0071] In cases where conditions 1) and 2) are met, after the current spot mowing operation ends, spot mowing will continue with finding tall grass. Condition 3) indicates that the tall grass clumps are too large. Due to the complex shape of the lawn, some areas still have large patches of grass that haven't been mowed within the given timeframe. These large patches of grass do not require spot mowing. Spot mowing will then cease, and a through-mowing or through-mowing search for tall grass will begin until the preset conditions are met again, at which point spot mowing will resume, and this process will repeat.

[0072] In step S650, when the preset conditions are not met, the lawnmower robot is controlled to pass through the tall grass area in the first walking mode.

[0073] In some embodiments, if the preset conditions are not met, and the length parameter of the missed grass clumps is less than the first length threshold, the missed grass clumps can still be mowed using a pass-through method.

[0074] In this embodiment, a target tall grass area is determined based on the time interval between the identification of tall grass areas and the size of the tall grass area. The mowing robot is then controlled to pass through the target tall grass area in a bow-shaped or spiral pattern to perform targeted mowing. This allows the mowing robot to perform concentrated mowing operations on the target tall grass area without having to move back to the current tall grass area for re-mowing, saving mowing time and improving mowing efficiency.

[0075] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the constituent units / partial constituent units of the lawnmower robot provided in the embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 7 As shown, the lawnmower robot 700 in this embodiment may include a memory 710 and a processor 720.

[0076] The memory 710 is used to store computer programs.

[0077] When the processor 720 executes the computer program, it implements the steps of the method for controlling the lawnmower robot as described above.

[0078] The processor is the core of the lawnmower robot's computation and control, serving as the final execution unit for information processing and program execution. The processor 720 can be a general-purpose processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), microcontroller unit (MCU), network processor, or other conventional processors. It can also be a special-purpose processor, including digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc.

[0079] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program thereon, which, when executed, is used to implement the method for controlling the lawnmower robot described above.

[0080] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any other combination. When implemented in software, it can be implemented, in whole or in part, as a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this disclosure are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a machine-readable storage medium or transmitted from one machine-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The machine-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state disks (SSDs)).

[0081] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this disclosure.

[0082] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of this application, "first," "second," etc., are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. The order of the above-mentioned process numbers does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0083] In the embodiments provided in this disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed systems and devices can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between devices or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0084] In the embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that when a part is referred to as "connected" or "linked" to another part, it means that the part can be "directly connected" and also "electrically connected," with another element involved. Additionally, the term "connected" also means that the parts are "physically connected" and "wirelessly connected." Furthermore, when a part is referred to as "containing" an element, unless otherwise stated, it means that the part may include, but does not exclude, the other element.

[0085] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0086] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this disclosure can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0087] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this disclosure, but the scope of protection of this disclosure is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this disclosure should be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of this disclosure should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a lawnmower robot, used to control the lawnmower robot to walk in a lawn area to perform lawn mowing operations, characterized in that, The method includes: During the movement, images of the area in the direction the lawnmower is moving are acquired to identify areas with tall grass; When a tall grass area is identified, it is determined whether the preset conditions are met based on the time interval between the identification of the tall grass area and the size of the tall grass area. When the preset conditions are not met, the lawn mowing robot is controlled to pass through the tall grass area in a first walking mode. The first walking mode includes controlling the lawn mowing robot to turn, and after the lawn mowing robot turns, controlling the lawn mowing robot to continue moving forward. When the preset conditions are met, the lawn mowing robot is controlled to pass through the tall grass area in a second walking mode. The second walking mode includes controlling the lawn mowing robot to walk in a bow-shaped or spiral pattern. The step of determining whether a preset condition is met based on the time interval between identifying the tall grass area and the size of the tall grass area includes: If the time interval between two consecutive detections of the tall grass area is greater than a first duration threshold, or the average time interval between two or more detections of the tall grass area is greater than a second duration threshold, and the length parameter of the tall grass area is greater than a first length threshold, then the preset condition is determined to be met; otherwise, the preset condition is determined not to be met. Here, the first duration threshold is greater than the second duration threshold, and the length parameter represents the size of the tall grass area.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The length parameter is the maximum inscribed circle diameter of the tall grass area.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control of the lawnmower robot to walk in a bow-shaped pattern includes: Based on the image of the tall grass area along the direction of the mowing robot's movement, determine the positional relationship of the current working point of the mowing robot relative to the tall grass area; Based on the positional relationship, the first working direction of the lawnmower robot is determined; After controlling the lawnmower to turn to the first working direction, control the lawnmower to move forward along the first working direction; When there is no tall grass within a first preset distance in the direction of the lawn mower's movement, the lawn mower is controlled to move toward the side where the tall grass area is located at a second preset distance interval, and then turn to a second working direction and move along the second working direction, which is opposite to the first working direction.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, Determining the first working direction of the lawnmower robot based on the positional relationship includes: When the number of tall grasses in the tall grass area corresponding to the first side of the lawnmower's forward direction is greater than the number of tall grasses in the tall grass area corresponding to the second side, the first working direction is determined to be the direction from the current working point of the lawnmower to the first side, and the second side is the side opposite to the first side.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, Determining the first working direction of the lawnmower robot based on the positional relationship includes: When the difference in the number of tall grasses in the tall grass areas corresponding to the left and right sides of the forward direction of the lawn mower robot is less than a preset threshold, the first working direction is determined to be a direction from the current working point of the lawn mower robot to any side of the forward direction of the lawn mower robot.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The control of the lawnmower robot to move towards the side with tall grass at a second preset distance and then turn to the second working direction includes: The machine turns in place to the third working direction, and after traveling a distance in a straight line along the third working direction to reach the second preset distance, it turns in place to the second working direction again. The third working direction is perpendicular to the first working direction and points towards the tall grass area; or, The machine moves along a semi-circular arc and turns to the second working direction, the diameter of which is the second preset distance.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control of the lawnmower robot to walk in a bow-shaped pattern also includes: Determine whether any of the following preset termination conditions are met; When the condition is met, the lawnmower robot is controlled to stop walking in the second walking mode; The multiple preset termination conditions include: Identify the boundaries or obstacles of the lawn area; When there are no tall grasses on one side and in front of the lawnmower, the lawnmower's running distance reaches the second length threshold. The straight-line running distance of the lawnmower robot is greater than a third length threshold, which is greater than the second length threshold.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Controlling the lawnmower robot to move in a spiral pattern includes: Based on the identified tall grass areas, the boundaries of the tall grass areas are determined; Based on the boundaries of the tall grass area, determine the spiral-shaped route; The lawnmower robot is controlled to travel from the outside to the inside along the spiral-shaped path through the tall grass area.

9. A lawnmower robot, characterized in that, include: Memory, used to store computer programs; A processor that, when executing the computer program, implements the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 1-8.

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