Autonomous cleaning robot

Abstract

To provide an autonomous cleaning robot capable of performing cleaning with a smaller non-passage area close to a boundary line.SOLUTION: An autonomous cleaning robot 1 includes: a horizontally long suction nozzle 20 arranged in a width direction of a front end; and control means 60 for performing control to enable autonomous traveling in longitudinal and horizontal directions. The control means 60 can perform a boundary edge cleaning operation by allowing the autonomous cleaning robot 1 to horizontally move in a lateral direction so as to be close to a boundary line SB at a predetermined distance, and then, allowing the autonomous cleaning robot 1 to move along the boundary line SB.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an autonomous cleaning robot capable of autonomous travel. [Background technology]

[0002] In offices, commercial facilities, accommodation facilities, etc., cleaning is carried out by using vacuum cleaners to collect dust that has fallen on the floor as part of hygiene management. In recent years, due to factors such as rising labor costs and labor shortages, there has been an increasing demand for autonomous cleaning robots that can autonomously move across floors while sucking up dust, in order to reduce the burden on workers.

[0003] Known examples of such cleaning robots include those equipped with drive wheels and with built-in control means such as an MPU that uses non-contact sensors such as ultrasonic sensors and laser sensors to measure the distance to obstacles such as walls, pillars, and people, and can change its travel route or avoid obstacles, thereby enabling it to travel autonomously (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0004] The autonomous cleaning robot in Patent Document 1 has a wide suction nozzle at the front, drive wheels on the left and right, a control means, a distance sensor, etc. The drive of these left and right drive wheels is controlled by separate driving motors, and by adjusting the rotation speed and direction of these left and right drive wheels, the robot can move forward and backward and turn left and right. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2004-49592 A (page 4, Figure 1) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Most cleaning robots prevent areas from being left uncleaned by combining a normal cleaning mode, which cleans the center of a room except for the wall edges, with a wall-edge cleaning mode, which cleans only along the wall edges. In the autonomous cleaning robot of Patent Document 1, when starting wall-edge cleaning mode, the robot turns left and right while gradually moving closer to the wall edge so that the body is parallel to the wall edge. However, this has the problem that the turning movement leaves areas on the outer diameter side of the track of the traveling carriage that the suction nozzle has not passed through, in other words, areas in the cleaning area that have not been cleaned.

[0007] The present invention has been made in light of these problems, and aims to provide an autonomous cleaning robot that can perform cleaning with minimal unpassed areas near boundary lines. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the autonomous cleaning robot of the present invention comprises: A horizontally long suction nozzle provided in the width direction at the front end, and a control means for controlling the robot to be able to autonomously travel forward, backward, left and right; , a distance sensor that measures the distance to an object An autonomous cleaning robot having The control means can perform a boundary cleaning operation by moving the autonomous cleaning robot left and right in a lateral direction until the autonomous cleaning robot approaches the boundary line at a predetermined distance, and then moving the autonomous cleaning robot along the boundary line. 、 the control means performs a cleaning operation that combines the boundary cleaning operation and a normal cleaning operation that cleans the center of the cleaning section, The control means controls the operation at an approachable distance closer to the boundary line than during the normal cleaning operation when moving along the boundary line during the boundary cleaning operation. It is characterized by the fact that According to this feature, by moving the autonomous cleaning robot left and right directly alongside the boundary line of the cleaning area, cleaning operation is possible with less unpassed areas near the boundary line on the outer diameter side caused by the autonomous cleaning robot's turning movement.

[0009] The suction nozzle has a width shorter than the width of the front surface of the traveling carriage, and is fixed to one side of the front surface of the traveling carriage in the left-right direction. According to this feature, the suction nozzle can be moved close to the boundary line for cleaning without increasing the size of the suction nozzle.

[0010] The autonomous cleaning robot is characterized by having a plurality of Mecanum wheels that can be driven in all directions by a traveling motor. According to this feature, the Mecanum wheels are driven and controlled by the driving motor, so when the autonomous cleaning robot changes direction from moving forward to moving sideways, there is no area that the suction nozzle does not pass through, making it possible to clean continuously in a short period of time.

[0011] The control means is characterized by moving the autonomous cleaning robot forward toward the boundary line, and when it approaches the boundary line by a predetermined distance, rotating the suction nozzle so that the longitudinal direction of the suction nozzle is perpendicular to the boundary line, and then starting the boundary line cleaning operation. According to this feature, since the Mecanum wheels have a greater thrust for forward movement than for lateral movement, the autonomous cleaning robot can quickly approach the boundary line by moving forward until it comes within a predetermined distance of the boundary line.

[0012] the autonomous cleaning robot is equipped with a distance sensor that measures a distance to an object; the control means performs a cleaning operation that combines the boundary cleaning operation and a normal cleaning operation that cleans the center of the cleaning section, The control means is characterized in that, when moving along the boundary line during the boundary edge cleaning operation, the operation is controlled at an approachable distance closer to the boundary line than during the normal cleaning operation. According to this feature, during normal cleaning operation, the robot operates at a distance necessary to avoid the risk of collision, and during boundary cleaning operation, the robot operates as close as possible to the boundary line, thereby enabling cleaning operation that eliminates any unpassed areas.

[0013] The control means is characterized in that, during the boundary edge cleaning operation, the autonomous cleaning robot moves left and right in the lateral direction toward the boundary line to the approachable distance. This feature allows the autonomous cleaning robot to quickly become parallel to and close to the boundary line. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing an autonomous cleaning robot according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a left side view showing the autonomous cleaning robot. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a right side view showing the autonomous cleaning robot. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a top view showing an autonomous cleaning robot. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the electrical system of the autonomous cleaning robot. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of a wheel of the autonomous cleaning robot. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a bottom view showing the structure of the suction nozzle of the autonomous cleaning robot. [Figure 8] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating forward movement of an autonomous cleaning robot. [Figure 9] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating rotational movement of the autonomous cleaning robot during boundary cleaning operation. [Figure 10] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating left and right movements in the lateral direction during boundary cleaning operation of the autonomous cleaning robot. [Figure 11] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating forward movement of the autonomous cleaning robot during boundary cleaning operation. [Figure 12] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating forward movement of the autonomous cleaning robot toward a corner during boundary cleaning operation. [Figure 13] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating the left and right movement of the autonomous cleaning robot in the lateral direction during boundary cleaning operation at a corner. [Figure 14] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating backward movement of the autonomous cleaning robot during boundary cleaning operation at a corner. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an autonomous cleaning robot according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Example]

[0016] An autonomous cleaning robot according to an embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1 to Fig. 14. In the following description, the lower left side of the paper in Fig. 1 is the front side (forward side) of the autonomous cleaning robot.

[0017] Autonomous cleaning robots are used in offices, commercial facilities, accommodation facilities, etc., to clean by autonomously moving across floors without human assistance and suctioning and collecting dust that has fallen on the floor.

[0018] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, an autonomous cleaning robot (hereinafter referred to as "cleaning robot") 1 is mainly composed of a traveling cart 10 having a suction nozzle 20 attached to the front lower part, and a vacuum cleaner 100 mounted on the rear upper part of the traveling cart 10. In this embodiment, the vacuum cleaner 100 is a commercial vacuum cleaner that has swivel casters (not shown) at the bottom and operates on commercial power, and is connected to the suction nozzle 20 by a nozzle hose 120 arranged inside the cleaning robot 1. In this embodiment, the suction nozzle 20 has a smaller width in the left-right direction (hereinafter simply referred to as "width") than the traveling cart 10 and is positioned offset to the right, but the width and left-right position of the suction nozzle 20 may be freely configured.

[0019] The traveling dolly 10 is mainly composed of a pair of left and right wheels 30R, 30L provided on the front side of the dolly body 11, a pair of left and right wheels 40R, 40L provided on the rear side of the dolly body 11, four traveling motors 50 (see FIG. 5) individually connected to these wheels 30R, 30L, 40R, 40L, three traveling batteries 70 (see FIG. 3) capable of supplying power to the traveling motors 50 and the like, and a control device 60 (control means, see FIG. 5). The traveling dolly 10 also carries four suction batteries 71 (see FIG. 3) that are independent of the traveling battery 70 and can supply power to the vacuum cleaner 100 via an inverter 72 (see FIG. 5). The three traveling batteries 70 and the four suction batteries 71 are all of the same standard and are therefore interchangeable and can be used interchangeably.

[0020] The traveling cart 10 also includes an upper exterior 80 that covers the vacuum cleaner 100, suction battery 71, etc. that are placed on the traveling cart 10, and a lower exterior 90 that covers the cart body 11, traveling battery 70, etc. Sensors 61, 61 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) provided at the front and rear of the cart body 11 are capable of sensing through gaps formed between the upper exterior 80 and the lower exterior 90. In this embodiment, the sensors 61, 61 are configured by non-contact sensors such as laser sensors and ultrasonic sensors.

[0021] Upper exterior 80 is divided into four parts, mainly a front exterior 80F, a rear exterior 80B, and left and right side exteriors 80R, 80L. Upper exterior 80 is formed with opening 81 shaped to fit the outer edge of vacuum cleaner 100 body, and hose opening 82 through which nozzle hose 120 can be inserted.

[0022] As shown in Fig. 5, the control device 60 can control the traveling of the traveling carriage 10 based on distance information and position information from sensors 61, 61 (see also Fig. 2) and information such as the number of rotations from rotary encoders (not shown) connected to the four traveling motors 50. Specifically, the control device 60 can individually control the rotation speed and direction of the wheels 30R, 30L, 40R, 40L by individually switching the magnitude and input direction of the voltage applied to the four traveling motors 50. Note that in Fig. 5, thick solid lines are shown as power supply lines and dotted lines are shown as signal supply lines.

[0023] 6, the wheels 30L, 40L are so-called Mecanum wheels with multiple rollers 31L, 41L inclined at 45 degrees in different directions on the outer periphery of the wheel, allowing the wheels to rotate, turn, and move forward, backward, and left, right, in a straight line. While detailed illustrations are omitted for ease of explanation, the wheel 30R is a Mecanum wheel with multiple rollers 31R inclined at 45 degrees in the same direction as the wheel 40L, and the wheel 40R is a Mecanum wheel with multiple rollers 41R inclined at 45 degrees in the same direction as the wheel 30L. In other words, the wheels 30L, 30R are arranged so that the rollers 31L, 31R form a V-shape when the traveling carriage 10 is viewed from the front, and the wheels 40L, 40R are arranged so that the rollers 41L, 41R form a V-shape when the traveling carriage 10 is viewed from the rear.

[0024] This allows the cleaning robot 1 to move smoothly in all directions, including forward, backward, left and right, by combining the driving of the wheels 30R, 30L, 40R, 40L by the travel motors 50 individually controlled by the control device 60 and the rolling of the rollers 31L, 31R, 41L, 41R in contact with the floor surface.

[0025] 7, the suction nozzle 20 includes a suction port 21 and a pair of left and right wheels 22, 22. The wheels 22, 22 are so-called omni-wheels with multiple rollers 23 provided along the outer periphery of the wheels, and can be driven in the front-rear direction by a drive motor (not shown) built into the suction nozzle 20. The suction nozzle 20 may also be provided with a rotating brush at the suction port 21 that can be driven by a drive motor (not shown) or the like.

[0026] In this way, the suction nozzle 20 can reduce the resistance between the suction nozzle 20 and the floor surface caused by the movement of the cleaning robot 1 in all directions, particularly the left-right movement and turning / rotating movement of the cleaning robot 1 described below, by combining the driving of the wheels 22, 22 by a drive motor not shown and the rolling of the rollers 23 in contact with the floor surface.

[0027] In addition, during forward and backward movement of the cleaning robot 1, which will be described later, it is preferable that the traveling speed of the traveling carriage 10 driven by the wheels 30R, 30L, 40R, 40L and the traveling speed of the suction nozzle 20 driven by the wheels 22, 22 are controlled to be approximately the same speed so as not to interfere with the traveling of the traveling carriage 10. Furthermore, the control device 60 may also coordinate and control the driving of the wheels 22, 22 in accordance with the driving of the wheels 30R, 30L, 40R, 40L.

[0028] Next, we will explain the cleaning operation of the cleaning robot 1 of this embodiment. The control device 60 of the cleaning robot 1 has map data of a cleaning section S, which is, for example, an indoor space, and performs a combination of a normal cleaning operation that cleans the area inside a boundary line SB, which is, for example, a wall, in the cleaning section S, i.e., the center of the cleaning section S (indoor), and a boundary cleaning operation that cleans only along the boundary line SB (wall edge).

[0029] Here, the boundary cleaning operation will be particularly described. In Figures 11 to 14, the area in the cleaning section S through which the suction port 21 of the cleaning robot 1 passes is indicated by dots.

[0030] First, the control device 60 compares the map data of the cleaning section S with the area that has been cleaned by normal cleaning operation, and if it determines that the area that should be cleaned by normal cleaning operation has been cleaned, it starts transitioning to edge cleaning operation from that point. To start edge cleaning operation, the control device 60 moves the cleaning robot 1 from its current position to a point where edge cleaning operation should start.

[0031] 8, first, the control device 60 moves the cleaning robot 1 forward from the current position of the cleaning robot 1 toward the boundary line SB that is closest in a straight line. Specifically, the control device 60 drives all of the wheels 30R, 30L, 40R, and 40L forward, thereby moving the cleaning robot 1 forward from position P0 to position P1 that is a predetermined distance from the boundary line SB. During this forward movement, the control device 60 moves the front end of the cart body 11 to a position where the front end is separated by a predetermined distance from the boundary line SB so that the boundary line SB does not overlap the trajectory of the front end of the cart body 11 during rotational movement, which will be described later.

[0032] When the cleaning robot 1 has moved from position P0 to position P1, which is a predetermined distance from the boundary line SB, the control device 60 starts the boundary line cleaning operation. As shown in Fig. 9, in the boundary line cleaning operation, the control device 60 drives the wheels 30R, 40R forward and drives the wheels 30L, 40L backward, thereby rotating the cleaning robot 1 counterclockwise from position P1 to position P2 around the center of rotation of the wheels 30R, 30L and the wheels 40R, 40L of the cart body 11 in the front-rear and left-right directions. Here, based on the distance information from the sensors 61, 61, the control device 60 rotates the cleaning robot 1 parallel to the boundary line SB, in other words, until the longitudinal direction of the suction nozzle 20 is perpendicular to the boundary line SB (90 degrees in this embodiment).

[0033] 10, the control device 60 drives the wheels 30L, 40R forward and drives the wheels 30R, 40L backward, thereby moving the cleaning robot 1 sideways from position P2 to position P3 so that the suction nozzle 20 faces the boundary line SB. The control device 60 continues the sideways movement until the distance between the suction nozzle 20 and the boundary line SB becomes 10 mm.

[0034] Next, as shown in FIG. 11, the control device 60 drives all of the wheels 30R, 30L, 40R, and 40L forward, thereby moving the cleaning robot 1 forward from position P3 along the boundary line SB to position P4.

[0035] Next, we will explain the case where the cleaning robot 1 moves further leftward from position P4 in FIG. 11 and the suction nozzle 20 faces another boundary line SB of the cleaning section S and reaches the next boundary line SB2 which forms a corner together with the boundary line SB.

[0036] As shown in Fig. 12, when the cleaning robot 1 approaches boundary line SB2, the control device 60 first moves the cleaning robot 1 forward to position P5 where the distance from boundary line SB2 is 10 mm. Next, as shown in Fig. 13, the control device 60 drives the wheels 30L, 40R backward and the wheels 30R, 40L forward, thereby moving the cleaning robot 1 sideways to the left along the next boundary line SB2 by a distance within the width of the suction nozzle 20. During this sideways movement, the distance from boundary line SB2 is maintained at 10 mm.

[0037] Next, the control device 60 drives all of the wheels 30R, 30L, 40R, 40L backward to move the cleaning robot backward to a position P7 that is a distance from the boundary line SB2 that is equal to or greater than the width of the suction nozzle 20. The control device 60 repeats this small lateral movement to the left and small backward movement to perform a boundary corner cleaning operation that cleans an area of ​​the front-to-rear dimension L1 from the rear end of the cleaning robot 1 to the suction nozzle 20, thereby cleaning so as to eliminate any uncleaned areas in the corners.

[0038] After completing this rear cleaning operation, the control device 60 drives the wheels 30L, 40R backward and the wheels 30R, 40L forward, thereby rotating the cleaning robot 1 until the carriage body 11 of the cleaning robot 1 is parallel to the next boundary line SB2, and then moves sideways to the boundary line SB2 and forward along the boundary line, thereby cleaning the edge of boundary line SB2. In this way, the control device 60 repeats the sideways movement, forward movement along the boundary line, and rear cleaning operation, and completes the boundary line cleaning operation that targets the edge of boundary line SB1, the boundary corner, and the edge of boundary line SB2.

[0039] In addition, when the cleaning robot 1 is moving, the control device 60 stops the robot or detours around the object based on the distance information from the sensors 61, 61 so that the object is within a predetermined straight-line distance from the outer edge of the cleaning robot 1, i.e., the object is kept relatively far away by more than a predetermined distance.

[0040] Specifically, in normal cleaning operation, which cleans the center of the cleaning section S (room), the allowable approach distance is 50 mm, and the robot is operated so that no objects are within 50 mm. Also, in boundary cleaning operation, which cleans only along the boundary line SB (wall edge), the allowable approach distance is 10 mm, and the robot is operated so that no objects are within 10 mm. The control device 60 can check the cleaned area in the map data of the cleaning section S and determine when the normal cleaning operation is complete.

[0041] In other words, since the normal cleaning operation is completed before transitioning to the edge cleaning operation, the approachable distance is set to 10 mm from the point when the edge cleaning operation starts. In other words, the control device 60 determines the boundary line SB where the edge cleaning operation should be performed and performs a process to switch the approachable distance. Therefore, during normal cleaning operation, the robot operates at a sufficient approachable distance to avoid the risk of collision, and during edge cleaning operation, the robot operates as close as possible to the boundary line SB, enabling cleaning operation that eliminates unpassed areas.

[0042] Furthermore, when moving sideways toward the boundary line SB during boundary cleaning operation, the approachable distance is 10 mm, so the cleaning robot 1 can quickly move parallel to and close to the boundary line SB without having to stop once at a position away from the boundary line SB.

[0043] As described above, the control device 60 of the cleaning robot 1 in this embodiment moves the cleaning robot 1 left and right in a lateral direction until it approaches the boundary line SB at a predetermined distance, and then performs boundary cleaning operation by moving the cleaning robot 1 along the boundary line SB. By moving the cleaning robot 1 left and right in a lateral direction to the boundary line SB of the cleaning section S, cleaning operation can be performed that eliminates an unpassed area near the boundary line SB that occurs on the outer diameter side as the cleaning robot 1 turns.

[0044] The width of the suction nozzle 20 is shorter than the width of the front surface of the traveling carriage 10, and the suction nozzle 20 is fixed to one of the left and right sides of the front surface of the traveling carriage 10. This allows the suction nozzle 20 to be brought close to the wall for cleaning while ensuring sufficient suction power without increasing the size of the suction nozzle 20.

[0045] Furthermore, since the travel motor 50 drives and controls each of the wheels 30L, 30R, 40L, and 40R, which are Mecanum wheels, there is no area that the suction nozzle 20 does not pass through when the cleaning robot 1 changes direction from forward movement to horizontal movement, making it possible to clean continuously in a short period of time.

[0046] Furthermore, the control device 60 moves the cleaning robot 1 forward until it approaches the boundary line SB by a predetermined distance, and then rotates the cleaning robot 1 so that it is parallel to the boundary line SB, causing the cleaning robot 1 to start boundary cleaning operation. Because the Mecanum wheels 30L, 30R, 40L, 40R have a greater thrust for forward movement than for lateral left and right movement, moving the cleaning robot 1 forward until it approaches the boundary line SB by a predetermined distance can move the cleaning robot 1 close to the boundary line SB quickly and with low power consumption.

[0047] Furthermore, since the sensors 61, 61 are composed of laser sensors, which are non-contact sensors, if the boundary line SB is, for example, a wall, the cleaning robot 1 can clean the boundary line while maintaining an extremely close distance without coming into contact with the wall, preventing damage to the wall or the cleaning robot 1 or the adhesion of dirt.

[0048] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, the specific configurations are not limited to these embodiments, and additions and modifications within the scope of the present invention are also included in the present invention.

[0049] For example, the cleaning robot in the above embodiment has been described as having a separate vacuum cleaner mounted on the upper rear of a running cart having a suction nozzle, but this is not limited to this, and the cleaning robot may also be one in which the functional parts of the vacuum cleaner are formed integrally with the running cart.

[0050] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the cleaning robot is always performing suction while autonomously traveling, but this is not limiting. For example, the control means may control the operation of the vacuum cleaner so that suction is stopped or the suction force is weakened while the cleaning robot is turning or rotating. This eliminates or reduces the resistance caused by the suction nozzle sticking to the floor surface when the cleaning robot is turning or rotating, allowing the cleaning robot to turn or rotate more smoothly.

[0051] In the above embodiment, the suction nozzle has a width smaller than that of the carriage in the left-right direction, but this is not limiting, and the width of the suction nozzle in the left-right direction may be the same as or larger than that of the cleaning robot. Note that the width of the suction nozzle in the left-right direction may be within a range that allows for the formation of a suction port large enough to maintain the cleaning performance of the vacuum cleaner placed on the carriage.

[0052] In addition, in the above embodiment, the control device has been described as starting the boundary cleaning operation by moving the cleaning robot forward from the current position of the cleaning robot toward the boundary line SB that is closest in a straight line, but this is not limited to this, and the control device may be configured to start the boundary cleaning operation from a preset coordinate, and move the cleaning robot to that coordinate using map data.

[0053] In addition, in the above embodiment, the rotational movement of the cleaning robot during boundary cleaning operation is described as being centered around the center of the front-to-back and left-to-right directions of the wheels 30R, 30L and the wheels 40R, 40L of the cart body, but this is not limited to this, and the rotational movement may be centered, for example, around the left-to-right center of the width of the suction port of the suction nozzle.

[0054] In the above embodiment, the cleaning robot has been described as having a configuration including a plurality of Mecanum wheels, but the cleaning robot may have wheels having a configuration other than Mecanum wheels as long as the wheels can drive the cleaning robot in all directions. Furthermore, the cleaning robot may have a movement mechanism that enables left-right movement and turning / rotational movement in addition to the wheels.

[0055] In the above embodiment, the suction nozzle has been described as having a plurality of omni-wheels driven by a drive motor (not shown), but this is not limiting, and the wheels of the suction nozzle may be wheels other than omni-wheels as long as they can drive the suction nozzle in the forward and backward directions. Furthermore, the wheels of the suction nozzle may be driven wheels rather than driving wheels.

[0056] In addition, the approachable distance differs between normal cleaning mode, which cleans the center of the cleaning area S (room), and edge cleaning mode, which cleans only along the boundary line SB (wall edge), and both are based on distance information obtained by sensor 61, but this is not limited to this; sensor 61 may be turned off during edge cleaning mode, and distance information may be obtained using a different sensor.

[0057] Furthermore, the mode is not limited to a mode in which a normal cleaning operation that cleans the center of the cleaning section S (room) is followed by a boundary cleaning operation that cleans only along the boundary line SB (wall edge), but may also be a mode in which a normal cleaning operation is performed after the boundary cleaning operation is completed, for example. [Explanation of symbols]

[0058] 1. Autonomous cleaning robot 10 Traveling cart 11 Bogie body 20 suction nozzle 21 Suction port 22 wheels 23 Laura 30L, 30R wheels (Mecanum wheels) 31L, 31R Roller 40L, 40R wheels (Mecanum wheels) 41L, 41R Roller 50 Drive motor 60 Control device (control means) 61 Sensors 70 Running battery 71 Vacuum Battery 80 Upper exterior 90 Lower exterior 100 vacuum cleaner 120 nozzle hose S Cleaning Section SB border SB2 border

Claims

1. An autonomous cleaning robot having a horizontally long suction nozzle provided in the width direction at the front end, a control means for controlling the robot to be able to autonomously move forward, backward, left and right, and a distance sensor for measuring the distance to an object, the control means can perform a boundary edge cleaning operation by moving the autonomous cleaning robot left and right in a lateral direction until the autonomous cleaning robot approaches the boundary line at a predetermined distance, and then moving the autonomous cleaning robot along the boundary line, the control means performs a cleaning operation that combines the boundary cleaning operation and a normal cleaning operation that cleans the center of the cleaning section, The autonomous cleaning robot is characterized in that the control means controls operation of the autonomous cleaning robot at an approachable distance closer to the boundary line during the boundary edge cleaning operation than during the normal cleaning operation when moving along the boundary line.

2. The autonomous cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the suction nozzle has a width shorter than the width of the front surface of the traveling carriage, and is fixed unevenly to either the left or right side of the front surface of the traveling carriage.

3. 3. The autonomous cleaning robot according to claim 1, wherein the autonomous cleaning robot has a plurality of Mecanum wheels, each of which can be driven in all directions by a traveling motor.

4. The autonomous cleaning robot described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the control means moves the autonomous cleaning robot forward toward the boundary line, and when it comes within a predetermined distance of the boundary line, rotates the suction nozzle so that the longitudinal direction of the suction nozzle is perpendicular to the boundary line, and then starts cleaning operation at the boundary line.

5. The autonomous cleaning robot according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the control means moves the autonomous cleaning robot to the approachable distance by moving left and right in the lateral direction toward the boundary line during the boundary cleaning operation.

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