State determination method and system for debris compartment of swimming pool cleaning robot, and medium

Abstract

Disclosed in the present invention are a state determination method and system for a debris compartment of a swimming pool cleaning robot, and a medium. The method comprises: using a posture sensor to acquire posture data of a swimming pool cleaning robot, the posture data comprising an Euler angle of the front part of the swimming pool cleaning robot, and the Euler angle at least comprising a current pitch angle of the front part of the swimming pool cleaning robot; comparing the current pitch angle of the front part of the swimming pool cleaning robot with a preset pitch angle; if the current pitch angle of the front part of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, determining that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a head lift state; and on the basis of the number of consecutive head lifts of the swimming pool cleaning robot, determining whether a debris compartment is full. Compared with the prior art, the present invention reduces the cost of swimming pool cleaning robots, and uses data of a posture sensor inside a swimming pool cleaning robot to determine whether a debris compartment is full, so that a user can conveniently clean the debris compartment in time, thereby improving the swimming pool cleaning efficiency.

Description

A swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment method, system and medium Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of robots, and in particular to a method, system and medium for judging the state of a garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot. Background Art

[0002] Swimming pool cleaning robots are household consumer robots used to clean swimming pools. Their functions are similar to those of sweeping robots. However, unlike sweeping robots, they are used underwater and need to work in swimming pools. Swimming pool cleaning has always been a pain point, and manual cleaning is tedious and time-consuming. Existing technologies have begun to use machines to clean swimming pools. Many companies are researching algorithms related to path planning, allowing machines to clean swimming pools according to set routes to achieve higher cleaning efficiency.

[0003] Most of the cleaning robots currently on the market do not have the function of detecting whether the garbage bin is full. If the garbage bin is full and the robot is still cleaning, the cleaning will have almost no effect. In the existing technology, it is difficult to detect whether the garbage bin is full. The garbage bin needs to be detected through complex circuits or structures. The solution is relatively complicated and requires additional circuits to be added to the robot, which increases the cost of the robot.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] The main purpose of the present invention is to propose a method, system and medium for determining the status of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot. The method aims to use the posture sensor data inside the swimming pool robot to determine whether the garbage bin is full without increasing the hardware cost, so as to facilitate the user to clean the garbage bin in time and improve the pool cleaning efficiency.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a method for determining the status of a garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot. The swimming pool cleaning robot is provided with a posture sensor for obtaining the pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot. The method comprises the following steps:

[0007] Using the posture sensor to collect posture data of the swimming pool cleaning robot, the posture data including Euler angles of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot, the Euler angles including at least a current pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot;

[0008] comparing a current pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot with a preset pitch angle;

[0009] If the current pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, it is determined that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a tilted state;

[0010] Whether the garbage bin is in a full bin state is determined according to the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head.

[0011] A further technical solution of the present invention is that if the current pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, the step of determining that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a tilted state further includes:

[0012] Control the swimming pool cleaning robot to switch directions of operation.

[0013] A further technical solution of the present invention is that the step of controlling the swimming pool cleaning robot to switch its direction of operation includes:

[0014] The swimming pool cleaning robot is controlled to move backward for a preset time and then switch directions to run.

[0015] A further technical solution of the present invention is that the step of judging whether the garbage bin is full based on the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head comprises:

[0016] Comparing the number of consecutive tilts of the swimming pool cleaning robot with a preset tilt range;

[0017] If the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head is within the preset tilting number range, it is determined that the garbage bin is in a full bin state.

[0018] A further technical solution of the present invention is that the preset number of head-warping times ranges from 5 to 50 times.

[0019] A further technical solution of the present invention is that the preset pitch angle is 8°.

[0020] A further technical solution of the present invention is that after the step of judging whether the garbage bin is full based on the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head, the step further includes:

[0021] If the garbage bin is in a full bin state, a garbage bin full bin state cleaning strategy is executed.

[0022] A further technical solution of the present invention is that the step of executing the garbage bin full state cleaning strategy includes:

[0023] The swimming pool robot is controlled to move toward the edge of the swimming pool and prompts the user that the garbage bin is full.

[0024] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the present invention also proposes a swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment system, which includes a memory, a processor, and a swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment program stored on the processor. When the swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment program is run by the processor, it executes the steps of the above-mentioned method.

[0025] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also proposes a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment program, and when the swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment program is run by a processor, the steps of the method described above are executed.

[0026] The beneficial effects of the method, system, and medium for determining the status of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot of the present invention are:

[0027] The present invention adopts the above technical solution, uses the posture sensor to collect the posture data of the swimming pool cleaning robot, the posture data includes the Euler angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot, and the Euler angle includes at least the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot; compares the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot with a preset pitch angle; if the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, it is determined that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a tilted state; and determines whether the garbage bin is in a full state according to the number of consecutive tilts of the swimming pool cleaning robot. Compared with the prior art, no additional hardware cost is added, and the posture sensor data inside the swimming pool cleaning robot is used to determine whether the garbage bin is in a full state. Compared with the prior art, no complex circuit or structure is added to detect the garbage bin state, which not only reduces the cost of the swimming pool cleaning robot, but also uses the posture sensor data inside the swimming pool robot to determine whether the garbage bin is full, which is convenient for users to clean the garbage bin in time and improves the swimming pool cleaning efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0029] FIG1 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of a method for determining the state of a garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to the present invention;

[0030] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot;

[0031] 3 is a flow chart of a second embodiment of a method for determining the state of a garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to the present invention;

[0032] FIG4 is a flow chart of a third embodiment of a method for determining the status of a garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to the present invention.

[0033] The purpose, features and advantages of the present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings and in conjunction with the embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field based on the embodiments of the present invention without making any creative efforts shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0035] The present invention provides a method for determining the status of a garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot. The swimming pool cleaning robot is provided with a posture sensor for obtaining the pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot. Referring to FIG. 1 , a first embodiment of the method for determining the status of the garbage bin of the swimming pool cleaning robot of the present invention includes the following steps:

[0036] Step S10: using a posture sensor to collect posture data of the swimming pool cleaning robot, the posture data including the Euler angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot, and the Euler angle including at least the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot.

[0037] As an embodiment, the Euler angles of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot further include a roll angle and a heading angle.

[0038] As shown in FIG2 , in this embodiment, the pitch angle refers to the angle α between the plane where the front and rear parts of the swimming pool cleaning robot are located and the bottom wall of the swimming pool.

[0039] When the garbage bin is not full of garbage, the swimming pool cleaning robot can move forward horizontally. At this time, the pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot basically does not change much. If there is too much garbage, the drainage ability of the swimming pool cleaning robot will deteriorate, resulting in a decrease in the downward force of the swimming pool cleaning robot. At this time, the front weight of the swimming pool cleaning robot is very low. When moving forward, the water flow acts on the swimming pool cleaning robot to generate a tilting force. When the tilting force is greater than the downward force of the swimming pool cleaning robot, the swimming pool cleaning robot will begin to tilt and the pitch angle will begin to increase.

[0040] The attitude sensor is a high-performance 3D motion attitude measurement system based on MEMS technology. It incorporates motion sensors such as a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer, and a three-axis electronic compass. It uses an embedded low-power ARM processor to generate temperature-compensated 3D attitude and orientation data. Using quaternion-based 3D algorithms and specialized data fusion techniques, it outputs zero-drift 3D attitude and orientation data in real time, expressed as quaternions and Euler angles.

[0041] In this embodiment, a posture sensor can be used to collect the pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot in real time. In order to reduce the power consumption of the swimming pool cleaning robot and increase the working time, the pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot can also be periodically collected according to a preset time. The preset period can be set according to actual conditions. For example, the pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot shown is collected once per minute.

[0042] Step S20: comparing the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot with a preset pitch angle.

[0043] This embodiment takes into account that when the garbage bin is not full of garbage, the pitch angle of the front part of the swimming pool cleaning robot basically does not change much. If there is too much garbage, when the tilting force is greater than the downward force of the swimming pool cleaning robot, the swimming pool cleaning robot will start to tilt and the pitch angle will start to increase. Therefore, this embodiment pre-sets a preset pitch angle as a basis for judging whether the front part of the swimming pool cleaning robot is in the tilted state. The pitch angle can be set based on experience, for example, set to 8°, and the present invention is not limited to this.

[0044] Step S30: If the current pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, it is determined that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a tilted state.

[0045] In this embodiment, when the current pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, it can be determined that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in the tilted state.

[0046] Step S40: determining whether the garbage bin is full based on the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head.

[0047] This embodiment takes into account that the swimming pool cleaning robot may tilt its head not only due to a full garbage bin, but also when encountering obstacles during operation. Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy of the garbage bin full state, this embodiment determines whether the garbage bin is full based on the number of consecutive tilts of the swimming pool cleaning robot.

[0048] The beneficial effects of the method for determining the status of the garbage bin of the swimming pool cleaning robot of this embodiment are:

[0049] Through the above technical solution, this embodiment uses a posture sensor to collect posture data of the swimming pool cleaning robot, where the posture data includes the Euler angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot, and the Euler angle includes at least the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot; the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot is compared with a preset pitch angle; if the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, it is determined that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a tilted state; and whether the garbage bin is in a full state is determined based on the number of consecutive tilts of the swimming pool cleaning robot. Compared with the prior art, no additional hardware cost is added, and the posture sensor data inside the swimming pool cleaning robot is used to determine whether the garbage bin is full. Compared with the prior art, no complex circuit or structure is added to detect the garbage bin state, which not only reduces the cost of the swimming pool cleaning robot, but also uses the posture sensor data inside the swimming pool robot to determine whether the garbage bin is full, which facilitates the user to clean the garbage bin in time and improves the swimming pool cleaning efficiency.

[0050] Based on the first embodiment shown in FIG1 , a second embodiment of the method for determining the state of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to the present invention is proposed. Referring to FIG3 , the difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment shown in FIG1 is that, in step S30 , if the current pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, then after determining that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in the tilted state, the method further includes:

[0051] Step S301, controlling the swimming pool cleaning robot to switch directions of operation.

[0052] This embodiment takes into account that the swimming pool cleaning robot may tilt its head not only due to a full garbage bin, but also when encountering obstacles during operation. Therefore, to avoid misjudgment, this embodiment controls the swimming pool cleaning robot to switch its running direction when the attitude sensor detects that the pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to a preset pitch angle. When the garbage bin is full, the water pumping capacity of the swimming pool cleaning robot is very poor, and the downward force generated by the swimming pool cleaning robot is very small. Therefore, the swimming pool cleaning robot will tilt its head no matter which direction it runs.

[0053] Specifically, step S301, the step of controlling the swimming pool cleaning robot to switch directions includes:

[0054] Control the swimming pool cleaning robot to move backward for a preset time and then switch directions.

[0055] The preset duration may be set based on experience, for example, to 2 seconds.

[0056] As an implementation scheme, in this embodiment, once the attitude sensor detects a pitch angle greater than or equal to 8°, the pool cleaning robot is controlled to reverse for two seconds, switching direction. This two-second reverse movement is intended to help the pool cleaning robot avoid obstacles ahead and improve the accuracy and efficiency of determining the status of the trash bin.

[0057] In this embodiment, step S40, the step of determining whether the garbage bin is full based on the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head, includes:

[0058] Step S401 : comparing the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head with a preset tilting number range.

[0059] Step S402: If the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head is within a preset tilting number range, it is determined that the garbage bin is in a full bin state.

[0060] The preset number of times of warping can be set based on experience, for example, 5 to 50 times, which is not limited in the present invention.

[0061] This embodiment compares the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head with a preset tilting number range. If the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head is within the preset tilting number range, it is determined that the garbage bin is full, which can further improve the accuracy of determining the full garbage bin status.

[0062] Based on the first embodiment shown in FIG1 , a third embodiment of the method for determining the status of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to the present invention is proposed. Referring to FIG4 , the difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment shown in FIG1 is that, after step S40 of determining whether the garbage bin is full based on the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head, the method further includes:

[0063] Step S50: If the garbage bin is in a full bin state, a garbage bin full bin state cleaning strategy is executed.

[0064] Among them, step S50 specifically includes: controlling the swimming pool robot to move toward the edge of the swimming pool and prompting the user that the garbage bin is full.

[0065] In this embodiment, once the garbage bin is determined to be full, the swimming pool cleaning robot will execute an automatic side-pull program. The swimming pool cleaning robot will start to move towards the edge of the pool until it reaches the pool wall through ultrasonic or other data. The ultrasonic condition for determining the wall is that the distance to the wall is less than 40 cm. Then the swimming pool cleaning robot will slowly stop and use an indicator light to remind the user that the garbage bin is full, waiting for the user to pick it up for cleaning.

[0066] In this embodiment, when the garbage bin is full, the garbage bin full state cleaning strategy is executed, the swimming pool robot is controlled to run towards the edge of the swimming pool, and the user is prompted that the garbage bin is full, waiting for the user to pick it up for cleaning, which is convenient for timely cleaning of the garbage bin, thereby improving the cleaning efficiency of the swimming pool.

[0067] The beneficial effects of the method for determining the status of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot of the present invention are:

[0068] Through the above technical solution, the present invention uses a posture sensor to collect posture data of the swimming pool cleaning robot, the posture data including the Euler angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot, and the Euler angle includes at least the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot; the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot is compared with the preset pitch angle; if the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, it is determined that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a tilted state; based on the number of consecutive tilts of the swimming pool cleaning robot, whether the garbage bin is in a full state is determined. Compared with the prior art, no additional hardware cost is added, and the posture sensor data inside the swimming pool cleaning robot is used to determine whether the garbage bin is in a full state. Compared with the prior art, no complex circuit or structure is added to detect the garbage bin state, which not only reduces the cost of the swimming pool cleaning robot, but also uses the posture sensor data inside the swimming pool robot to determine whether the garbage bin is full, which is convenient for users to clean the garbage bin in time and improves the swimming pool cleaning efficiency.

[0069] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the present invention also proposes a garbage bin status judgment system for a swimming pool cleaning robot. The garbage bin status judgment system for a swimming pool cleaning robot includes a memory, a processor, and a garbage bin status judgment program for a swimming pool cleaning robot stored on the processor. When the garbage bin status judgment program for a swimming pool cleaning robot is run by the processor, the steps of the method in the above embodiment are executed, which will not be repeated here.

[0070] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the present invention also proposes a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a garbage bin status judgment program for a swimming pool cleaning robot. When the garbage bin status judgment program for a swimming pool cleaning robot is run by a processor, the steps of the method in the above embodiment are executed, which will not be repeated here.

[0071] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and does not limit the patent scope of the present invention. All equivalent structural transformations made by using the contents of the present invention description and drawings under the concept of the present invention, or direct / indirect application in other related technical fields are included in the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for determining the state of a garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot, characterized in that: The swimming pool robot is provided with a posture sensor for obtaining the pitch angle of the front part of the swimming pool cleaning robot, and the method comprises the following steps: The posture sensor is used to collect posture data of the swimming pool cleaning robot, wherein the posture data includes Euler angles of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot, and the Euler angles include at least a current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot; comparing a current pitch angle of the front portion of the swimming pool cleaning robot with a preset pitch angle; If the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, it is determined that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a tilted state; Whether the garbage bin is in a full bin state is determined according to the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head.

2. The method for determining the state of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: If the current pitch angle of the front of the swimming pool cleaning robot is greater than or equal to the preset pitch angle, the step of determining that the swimming pool cleaning robot is currently in a tilted state further includes: Control the swimming pool cleaning robot to switch directions.

3. The method for determining the state of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The step of controlling the swimming pool cleaning robot to switch direction of operation comprises: The swimming pool cleaning robot is controlled to move backward for a preset time and then switch directions to run.

4. The method for determining the state of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to claim 3, characterized in that: The step of judging whether the garbage bin is in a full bin state according to the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head comprises: Comparing the number of consecutive head-lifts of the swimming pool cleaning robot with a preset head-lift number range; If the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously lifts its head is within the preset range of the number of times, it is determined that the garbage bin is in a full bin state.

5. The method for determining the state of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The preset head tilting times range from 5 to 50 times.

6. The method for determining the state of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The preset pitch angle is 8°.

7. The method for determining the state of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: After the step of judging whether the garbage bin is full according to the number of times the swimming pool cleaning robot continuously tilts its head, the following step further comprises: If the garbage bin is in a full bin state, a garbage bin full bin state cleaning strategy is executed.

8. The method for determining the state of the garbage bin of a swimming pool cleaning robot according to claim 7, characterized in that: The steps of executing the garbage bin full bin state cleaning strategy include: The swimming pool robot is controlled to move toward the edge of the swimming pool and prompts the user that the garbage bin is full.

9. A garbage bin status judgment system for a swimming pool cleaning robot, characterized in that: The swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment system includes a memory, a processor, and a swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment program stored on the processor. When the swimming pool cleaning robot garbage bin status judgment program is run by the processor, the steps of the method described in any one of claims 1 to 8 are executed.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a garbage bin status judgment program for a swimming pool cleaning robot, and when the garbage bin status judgment program for a swimming pool cleaning robot is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in any one of claims 1 to 8 are executed.

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