Pool cleaning robot detrapping method and cleaning robot

Abstract

The invention discloses a pool cleaning robot escape method and a cleaning robot, and the method comprises the steps: controlling the cleaning robot to run in a pool so as to execute cleaning operation; in the driving process, operation parameters of the cleaning robot are obtained, and whether the cleaning robot is in a suspended stuck state or not is judged according to the operation parameters; if the cleaning robot is in the suspended stuck state, a de-trapping action is executed; wherein the escape action comprises adjustment of the magnitude and / or direction of the driving force. The suspension jamming condition of the cleaning robot can be detected, and the corresponding detrapping capability is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of cleaning robot technology, and in particular to a method for a pool cleaning robot to escape from a difficult situation and the cleaning robot itself. Background Technology

[0002] In recent years, with technological advancements and the development of the internet, robotics technology has matured and is widely applied in various aspects of life. Looking at the market, a large number of specialized robots have emerged, among which pool cleaning robots have significantly helped users solve a large amount of cleaning work. They are used to clean mud, grime, algae, and other debris from the bottom and sidewalls of pools to maintain their cleanliness.

[0003] When a pool cleaning robot is cleaning the pool bottom, the complex environment makes it difficult to determine the specific situation of obstacles using only ultrasonic or other ranging sensors. For example, the robot's downward-facing sensors cannot distinguish between cliffs, pits, or being stuck in mid-air. Being stuck in mid-air occurs when the robot encounters an obstacle, causing its wheels or tracked wheels to detach from the support surface and become suspended in mid-air, preventing the robot from moving forward. Similarly, when the cleaning robot encounters low obstacles such as ground lights during normal pool bottom movement, the ranging sensors may not return a value. If the robot happens to be stuck on a ground light, it cannot determine the situation and take appropriate action, affecting cleaning efficiency.

[0004] Therefore, how to detect when a cleaning robot is stuck in a suspended state and how to help it get out of trouble has become an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method for a water pool cleaning robot to get out of trouble and a cleaning robot, which can detect the situation where the cleaning robot is suspended and stuck, and improve the corresponding ability to get out of trouble.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for a water tank cleaning robot to escape from a difficult situation, comprising: Control the cleaning robot to move within the pool to perform cleaning tasks; During operation, the robot's operating parameters are acquired, and based on these parameters, it is determined whether the robot is in a suspended or stuck state. If the cleaning robot is stuck in mid-air, it will perform an escape maneuver. The escape action includes adjusting the magnitude and / or direction of the driving force.

[0007] Secondly, the present invention also provides a cleaning robot, the cleaning robot comprising: A filtration device is used to filter the water entering the cleaning robot; The walking mechanism is used to drive the cleaning robot to walk on the support surface; The water spray mechanism is used to provide water flow force for the cleaning robot; One or more processors; Storage device for storing one or more programs; When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the escape method as provided in the first aspect.

[0008] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: by acquiring the operating parameters of the cleaning robot during its movement, it can detect whether the cleaning robot is in a suspended and stuck state, and when this state is detected, it can achieve extrication by adjusting the driving force. Operating parameters can more accurately reflect whether the robot is stuck, because the operating parameters of the robot during normal movement are significantly different from those when it is stuck. This application can efficiently detect the stuck state by detecting operating parameters and improves the cleaning robot's corresponding extrication ability. Attached Figure Description

[0009] Figure 1 A flowchart of a method for a water tank cleaning robot to escape from a stuck situation, provided by the present invention; Figure 2 This is a flowchart of a water tank cleaning robot's escape method according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a structural schematic diagram of a cleaning robot provided by the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0010] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and not intended to limit it. Furthermore, it should be noted that, for ease of description, the accompanying drawings show only the parts relevant to the present invention, and not all of the structures.

[0011] Before discussing the exemplary embodiments in more detail, it should be noted that some exemplary embodiments are described as processes or methods depicted as flowcharts. Although the flowcharts describe the steps as sequential processes, many of these steps can be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. Furthermore, the order of the steps can be rearranged. A process can be terminated when its operation is complete, but it may also have additional steps not included in the figures. A process can correspond to a method, function, procedure, subroutine, subprogram, etc.

[0012] Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," etc., may be used herein to describe various directions, actions, steps, or elements, but these directions, actions, steps, or elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one direction, action, step, or element from another. For example, without departing from the scope of this application, first information may be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may be referred to as first information. Both first information and second information are information, but they are not the same information. The terms "first," "second," etc., should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of indicated technical features. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this invention, "a plurality of" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0013] Please refer to Figure 1 A method for a swimming pool or pond cleaning robot to escape from a stuck situation includes: Control the cleaning robot to move within the pool to perform cleaning tasks; During operation, the robot's operating parameters are acquired, and based on these parameters, it is determined whether the robot is in a suspended or stuck state. If the cleaning robot is stuck in mid-air, it will perform an escape maneuver. The escape action includes adjusting the magnitude and / or direction of the driving force.

[0014] As described above, it can detect situations where cleaning robots are suspended and stuck, and improve their ability to escape from such situations.

[0015] In an optional embodiment, the operating parameters include the duration or distance of straight-line walking, the current of the drive motor of the walking mechanism, or the wheel speed of the walking mechanism. When the cleaning robot is in a suspended and stuck state, its wheels are suspended in the air, and the load on the wheels will change. Consequently, the current of the drive motor and the wheel speed will change compared to normal driving. For example, the current will decrease, and the wheel speed will increase. Therefore, by monitoring the drive motor current and wheel speed of the robot's wheels, it can be determined whether the cleaning robot is in a suspended and stuck state. In addition, since the wheels continue to rotate when suspended, the wheel speed meter can continuously monitor the robot's movement. This is considered abnormal movement. The robot's movement rule during cleaning operations is to turn around after encountering a wall, then move straight after turning around, and then turn around again after encountering another wall. If the wheel speed meter detects that the straight-line movement time or straight-line distance is too long during this straight-line movement, it can be determined that the robot is in a stuck state.

[0016] Therefore, this application can determine whether the duration or distance of the cleaning robot's straight-line walking, the current of the drive motor of the walking mechanism, or the wheel speed of the walking mechanism meets preset conditions. If these conditions are met, the cleaning robot is determined to be in a suspended and stuck state. The preset conditions include: the duration of the straight-line walking is greater than a preset first duration, the distance of the straight-line walking is greater than a preset distance threshold, the current of the drive motor of the walking mechanism is less than a preset current threshold, or the wheel speed of the walking mechanism is greater than a preset wheel speed threshold.

[0017] Specifically, the straight-line walking motion follows the movement rules or path of the cleaning operation, including turning and walking in a straight line until another turn is needed, i.e., walking from one side of the pool or pond to the other. Typically, the walking speed of a cleaning robot in a pool or pond is approximately 0.2 m / s, while the maximum length of a pool or pond is usually no more than 20 m. Therefore, the preset first duration can be 100 s, and the preset distance threshold can be 20 m. When the wheel speed sensor detects that the robot's straight-line walking distance exceeds 20 m, or the continuous straight-line walking time exceeds 100 s, it can be determined that the robot is stuck.

[0018] Specifically, determining whether the drive motor current of the walking mechanism is less than a preset current threshold means determining whether the current value within a preset second time period (e.g., between 1s and 5s) is consistently less than the preset current threshold, or whether the average current value within the preset second time period is less than the preset current threshold. If so, it indicates that the robot is suspended and stuck. Determining whether the wheel speed of the walking mechanism is less than a preset wheel speed value means determining whether the wheel speed value within a preset third time period (e.g., between 2s and 6s) is consistently greater than the preset wheel speed threshold, or whether the average wheel speed value within the preset third time period is greater than the preset wheel speed threshold. If so, it indicates that the robot is suspended and stuck. It should be noted that the aforementioned current value or wheel speed value is the value after removing abnormal data. In particular, the preset wheel speed threshold is greater than 0.2m / s.

[0019] In an optional embodiment, the driving force includes at least one of the water flow force of the spray mechanism, the force of the traveling mechanism, and the buoyancy of the cleaning robot.

[0020] In an optional embodiment, the escape action includes: adjusting the buoyancy of the cleaning robot to escape the entrapment by causing the cleaning robot to float.

[0021] As described above, the cleaning robot can escape its stuck state by floating to the surface.

[0022] In an optional embodiment, performing the escape action includes: performing a first escape action and a second escape action.

[0023] In an optional embodiment, if the cleaning robot is in a suspended and stuck state, the step of performing an escape action includes: If the cleaning robot is stuck in mid-air, it will perform the first escape action; If the cleaning robot is still stuck in the air after performing the first escape action (pre-set first number), then perform the second escape action. If the cleaning robot remains stuck in mid-air after performing the second, preset escape action, an alarm will be triggered, requesting the user's assistance in escaping the pre-set second attempt.

[0024] As described above, the system attempts to escape the obstacle multiple times to increase the likelihood of success. If the obstacle remains unaccounted for after several attempts, an alarm is triggered to notify the user for assistance.

[0025] In an optional embodiment, the first escape action includes: adjusting the magnitude of the water flow force of the water spraying mechanism, or adjusting the magnitude and / or direction of the force of the traveling mechanism.

[0026] As described above, increasing the force of the water jet from the spray mechanism increases the thrust generated by the spray mechanism, thereby enabling the robot to escape from a difficult situation. Increasing the force of the propulsion mechanism, such as the wheels, and controlling the cleaning robot to move in different directions can further improve the likelihood of escaping. The wheels referred to in this application include individual wheels or wheels with tracks.

[0027] In an optional embodiment, the second escape action includes: Adjust the direction of the water flow force of the water spray mechanism, or adjust the direction of the force of the traveling mechanism; Alternatively, adjust the direction and magnitude of the water flow force of the spray mechanism, or adjust the magnitude and direction of the force of the traveling mechanism.

[0028] As described above, by changing the direction of the water flow force of the water spray structure, the possibility of the cleaning robot getting out of trouble can be increased; or by increasing the magnitude of the water flow force of the water spray mechanism and the magnitude of the force of the traveling mechanism, the traveling speed of the cleaning robot can be further increased, thus improving the possibility of getting out of trouble.

[0029] The present invention also provides a cleaning robot, the cleaning robot comprising: A filtration device is used to filter the water entering the cleaning robot; The walking mechanism is used to drive the cleaning robot to walk on the support surface; The water spray mechanism is used to provide water flow force for the cleaning robot; One or more processors; Storage device for storing one or more programs; When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the escape method as described above.

[0030] The water spraying mechanism mentioned in this application may include a water pump and a robot's drain outlet, or a water spraying structure independent of the water pump and drain outlet. The water pump is used to guide water flow from the robot's water inlet, through a filtration device, and out of the drain outlet.

[0031] Figure 2 A method for a water tank cleaning robot to escape from a stuck situation is shown, including the following steps: S1: Controls the cleaning robot to move within the pool, either along the edge or to perform cleaning tasks.

[0032] S2: During the movement, determine whether the cleaning robot is in a suspended and stuck state. If yes, proceed to step S3. If no, continue to move along the edge or perform cleaning operations.

[0033] Specifically, during operation, the cleaning robot's operating parameters are acquired, and then it is determined whether the cleaning robot is in a suspended and stuck state based on these parameters. That is, if the operating parameters meet preset conditions, the cleaning robot is determined to be in a suspended and stuck state. A detailed description of the operating parameters is provided above and will not be repeated here.

[0034] S3: Perform an escape maneuver. This escape maneuver includes adjusting the magnitude and / or direction of the driving force, which may include at least one of the following: the water flow force from the water jet structure, the force from the propulsion mechanism, and the buoyancy of the cleaning robot. See the above description for the escape maneuver; it will not be repeated here.

[0035] Furthermore, in some embodiments, after successfully escaping the obstacle, the cleaning robot is controlled to search for the pool wall or continue cleaning operations.

[0036] Furthermore, if the robot fails to escape after attempting to get out of trouble, meaning it remains stuck in mid-air, it indicates a severe entrapment and an inability to escape on its own. In this case, an alarm message needs to be sent to the application to inform the user that the escape attempt has failed and that the user needs to manually assist in getting out of trouble.

[0037] Figure 3 A cleaning robot is shown, the cleaning robot comprising: Filter device 301 is used to filter the water flow entering the cleaning robot; The walking mechanism 302 is used to drive the cleaning robot to walk on the support surface; The water spray mechanism 303 is used to provide water flow force for the cleaning robot; One or more processors 304; Storage device 305 is used to store one or more programs; When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors 304, the one or more processors 304 implement the various processes in the above-described embodiment of the method for escaping a swimming pool cleaning robot based on suspension and getting stuck, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0038] In summary, the present invention provides a method for a pool cleaning robot to escape from a trapped state and a cleaning robot that can efficiently detect trapped states and improve the corresponding escape capabilities of the cleaning robot.

[0039] Based on the above description of the implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present invention can be implemented using software and necessary general-purpose hardware, and of course, it can also be implemented using hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as a computer floppy disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, hard disk, or optical disk, etc., including several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of the present invention.

[0040] It is worth noting that in the embodiments of the above-mentioned device, the various units and modules included are only divided according to functional logic, but are not limited to the above division, as long as the corresponding functions can be realized; in addition, the specific names of each functional unit are only for easy distinction between each other and are not used to limit the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0041] The above description is merely an embodiment of the present invention and does not limit the patent scope of the present invention. Any equivalent modifications made based on the content of the present invention specification and drawings, or direct or indirect applications in related technical fields, are similarly included within the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for a water tank cleaning robot to escape from a difficult situation, characterized in that, include: Control the cleaning robot to move within the pool to perform cleaning tasks; During operation, the robot's operating parameters are acquired, and based on these parameters, it is determined whether the robot is in a suspended or stuck state. If the cleaning robot is stuck in mid-air, it will perform an escape maneuver. The escape action includes adjusting the magnitude and / or direction of the driving force.

2. The escape method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The operating parameters include the duration of straight-line travel, the distance of straight-line travel, the current of the drive motor of the traveling mechanism, or the wheel speed of the traveling mechanism. The step of determining whether the cleaning robot is in a suspended and stuck state based on the operating parameters includes: if the duration of the straight-line walking, the distance of the straight-line walking, the current of the drive motor of the walking mechanism, or the wheel speed of the walking mechanism meets the preset conditions, then it is determined that the cleaning robot is in a suspended and stuck state.

3. The escape method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The preset conditions include: the duration of straight-line walking is greater than a preset first duration, the distance of straight-line walking is greater than a preset distance threshold, the current of the drive motor of the walking mechanism is less than a preset current threshold, or the wheel speed of the walking mechanism is greater than a preset wheel speed threshold. Preferably, the straight-line walking action includes turning and then walking in a straight line until it is necessary to turn again, the drive motor current of the walking mechanism includes the current value within a preset second time period, and the wheel speed of the walking mechanism includes the wheel speed within a preset third time period.

4. The escape method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The driving force includes at least one of the following: the water flow force of the water spraying mechanism of the cleaning robot, the force of the traveling mechanism, and the buoyancy of the cleaning robot.

5. The escape method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The extrication action includes: adjusting the buoyancy of the cleaning robot to extricate it from the predicament by causing the cleaning robot to float.

6. The escape method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The execution of the escape actions includes: executing a first escape action and a second escape action.

7. The escape method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The second escape action is executed only after the first escape action has ended and the cleaning robot has failed to escape.

8. The escape method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, The first escape action includes: adjusting the magnitude of the water flow force of the water spraying mechanism, or adjusting the magnitude and / or direction of the force of the traveling mechanism.

9. The escape method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, The second escape action includes: Adjust the direction of the water flow force of the water spray mechanism, or adjust the direction of the force of the traveling mechanism; Alternatively, adjust the direction and magnitude of the water flow force of the spray mechanism, or adjust the magnitude and direction of the force of the traveling mechanism.

10. A cleaning robot, characterized in that, The cleaning robot includes: A filtration device is used to filter the water entering the cleaning robot; The walking mechanism is used to drive the cleaning robot to walk on the support surface; The water spray mechanism is used to provide water flow force for the cleaning robot; One or more processors; Storage device for storing one or more programs; When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-9.

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