Cliff sensor and cleaning robot

Abstract

A cliff sensor (100) and a cleaning robot. The cliff sensor (100) comprises: a light emitter (3) and a light receiver (4); a light-emitting component (2) located on either side of the light emitter (3) and the light receiver (4) and used for enhancing the intensity of near-field light; and lenses (5), the lenses (5) being provided on light receiving / emitting paths of the light emitter (3), the light receiver (4) and the light-emitting component (2), so as to detect the status of the near / far ground of the space where the cliff sensor (100) is located. The cleaning robot aims to solve the problem of inaccurate detection results caused by existing cleaning robots being unable to directly detect a near-field status. The cliff sensor (100) effectively improves the accuracy of the detection result, thereby prolonging the service life of the cleaning robot. The cliff sensor (100) has a simple structure and is easy to implement.

Description

Cliff sensor and sweeping robot

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202421900471.3, filed on August 7, 2024, and entitled "Cliff sensor and sweeping robot", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application belongs to the technical field of sweeping robots, and specifically provides a cliff sensor and a sweeping robot. BACKGROUND

[0003] In order to enable the sweeping robot to adapt to various indoor environments, a sensor is often installed on the sweeping robot to detect the ground conditions of the environment where the sweeping robot is located, so as to avoid damage to the sweeping robot.

[0004] To achieve the above purpose, the present application provides a cliff sensor, comprising: a light emitter and a light receiver; a light-emitting component located on either side of the light emitter and the light receiver for strengthening the near-field light intensity; a lens is arranged on the path of the receiving / emitting light of the light emitter, the light receiver and the light-emitting component, so as to detect the ground conditions of the near / far ground of the space where the cliff sensor is located.

[0005] Further, the lens is configured as a Fresnel lens.

[0006] Further, the cliff sensor further comprises: a sensor body having a containing space therein, and one end of the sensor body is provided with an open mouth; a partition plate is arranged in the containing space and divides the containing space into two chambers; the light emitter and the light-emitting component are arranged in one of the chambers, and the light receiver is arranged in the other chamber.

[0007] Further, the lens is arranged at the open mouth; and / or, the surface of the partition plate is treated to eliminate light.

[0008] Further, the partition plate is integrally formed with the sensor body; or, the partition plate is fixedly connected with the sensor body.

[0009] Further, the partition plate is fixedly connected with the sensor body by fasteners; or, the partition plate is provided with a clamping portion, the sensor body has a clamping groove therein, and the clamping portion is clamped with the clamping groove to fixedly connect the partition plate with the sensor body.

[0010] Further, the cliff sensor further comprises a controller, and the light emitter, the light receiver and the light emitting component are in communication with the controller respectively.

[0011] Further, the sensor body further comprises a mounting cavity arranged at a side away from the containing space, the mounting cavity being used for containing the controller; and / or, a through hole is arranged on a bottom wall of the containing space, and conductive terminals of the light emitting component, the light emitter and the light receiver can pass through the through hole and be connected with the controller.

[0012] Further, the light emitting component is configured as an LED lamp; and / or, the light emitter is used for emitting infrared light or visible light.

[0013] Further, a sweeping robot comprises a sweeping robot body and the cliff sensor according to any one of the above; and the bottom edge of the sweeping robot body is provided with at least one cliff sensor.

[0014] Further, a plurality of cliff sensors are uniformly distributed along the bottom edge of the sweeping robot body. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, some embodiments of the present application will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. Those skilled in the art should understand that the components or parts indicated by the same reference signs in different drawings are the same or similar; the drawings of the present application are not necessarily drawn to scale with each other. In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a simulation cliff scene representation showing the detection situation that the existing cliff sensor may appear; Fig. 2 is a structural schematic view of the cliff sensor in some embodiments of the present application; Fig. 3 is an optical path schematic view of the cliff sensor in Fig. 2.

[0016] Explanation of reference signs: 100, cliff sensor; 1, sensor body; 11, partition plate; 2, light emitting component; 3, light emitter; 4, light receiver; 5, lens; 6, controller. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments described hereinafter are only some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments of the present application, and the some of the embodiments are intended to explain the technical principles of the present application, but not to limit the protection scope of the present application. Based on the embodiments provided in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative labor should still fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0018] It should be noted that in the description of the present application, the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "top", "bottom", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer" and the like indicating the direction or positional relationship are based on the direction or positional relationship shown in the drawings, which is merely for the convenience of description, and does not indicate or imply that the device or element must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present application. In addition, the terms "first", "second", "third" are only for the purpose of description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0019] In addition, it should be noted that in the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connecting", "connecting" should be understood broadly, for example, it can be fixedly connected, or it can be detachably connected, or integrally connected; it can be mechanically connected, or it can be electrically connected; it can be directly connected, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the communication between two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0020] The cliff sensor in some embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Among them, FIG. 1 is a simulation cliff scene representation of the detection situation that the existing cliff sensor will appear; FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of the cliff sensor in some embodiments of the present application; FIG. 3 is an optical path schematic diagram of the cliff sensor in FIG. 2.

[0021] In order to facilitate the description, and in order to enable those skilled in the art to quickly understand the technical solutions of the present application, the following only describes the technical features that are relatively strong (directly related or indirectly related) to the technical problems and / or technical concepts to be solved by the present application. For technical features that are relatively weak in association with the technical problems and / or technical concepts to be solved by the present application, no further description is made. Since the technical features with weak association belong to the common knowledge in the art, the disclosure of the present application will not be insufficient even if the weakly associated features are not described.

[0022] It should be noted before that the existing cliff sensor cooperates with the transmitter, receiver and lens assembly to detect the ground conditions of the space where the cliff sensor is located. The light emitted by the light reflector usually makes the light intensity in the far field strong, and the light intensity in the near field close to the cliff sensor relatively dark, which makes the detection result of the cliff sensor in the near field of the space where the cliff sensor is located in a specific scene poor or inaccurate.

[0023] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the staff judges the detection conditions of the cliff sensor in different environments by simulating a cliff scene. The specific principle is to judge whether it is a cliff according to the energy detected by the receiver in real time. The judgment standard is a cliff environment provided by the staff for the machine, such as an 11-centimeter step. The value measured on the step is recorded as a standard value. A further specific simulation scene can be a super-strong obstacle-crossing scene. In this scene, the cliff sensor will increase the height from the ground. At this time, if there is a carpet on the ground or there is an inclined scene, the energy value detected by the cliff sensor will easily fail to reach the standard value and will be misjudged as a cliff, thereby causing the situation of missing scanning of the near-ground situation.

[0024] The cliff sensor 100 of the present application can effectively avoid the above-mentioned situation of missing scanning of the near-ground situation by the cliff sensor in the specific environment, thereby causing the problem of inaccurate detection results.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 3, in some embodiments of the present application, a cliff sensor 100 is provided, which includes a sensor body 1, a light-emitting component 2 and a light emitter 3, a light receiver 4 and a lens 5. The sensor body 1 has a containing space therein. The light-emitting component 2 and the light emitter 3 are arranged in the containing space and are used to provide a light source. The light receiver 4 is arranged on one side of the light-emitting component 2 and the light emitter 3 and is used to receive the light source emitted by the light-emitting component 2 and the light emitter 3. The lens 5 is arranged on the path of the light emitted / received by the light-emitting component 2, the light emitter 3 and the light receiver 4 to improve the light intensity and resolution on the path of the received / emitted light.

[0026] As can be understood by those skilled in the art, the present application improves the accuracy of the detection results of the cliff sensor for the near-field ground situation by adding a light-emitting component in the sensor, so that the light of the near-field ground detected by the cliff sensor is brighter. The present application effectively solves the problem that the existing cliff sensor is damaged due to the inaccurate judgment of the near-field ground situation caused by the brighter light in the detection area of the far-field ground and the darker light of the near-field ground. The cliff sensor of the present application effectively improves the detection results and thus improves the service life of the sweeping robot. The structure is simple and easy to implement.

[0027] The sensor body 1 further includes a partition plate 11 arranged in the containing space and dividing the containing space into two chambers. The light-emitting component 2 and the light emitter 3 are arranged in one chamber, and the light receiver 4 is arranged in the other chamber.

[0028] The partition plate 11 is integrally formed with the sensor body 1. Alternatively, the partition plate 11 is fixedly connected with the sensor body 1.

[0029] The partition plate 11 is fixedly connected to the sensor body 1 by fasteners. The fasteners can be screws, rivets or bolts.

[0030] In some other embodiments of the present application, the partition plate 11 is provided with a clamping portion, and the sensor body 1 is provided with a clamping groove. The clamping portion is clamped in the clamping groove to fixedly connect the partition plate 11 to the sensor body 1.

[0031] The partition plate 11 of the present application needs to be treated by light extinction.

[0032] Optionally, the partition plate 11 is made of light-proof material. Alternatively, the surface of the partition plate 11 is coated with paint with light-proof performance. Alternatively, the surface of the partition plate 11 is polished into rough surface by using a grinding wheel or sandpaper to reduce the light transmission performance of the surface of the partition plate 11.

[0033] The cliff sensor 100 further comprises a controller 6. The light emitter 3, the light receiver 4 and the light emitting component 2 are respectively connected to the controller 6. The controller 6 can control the light emitter 3 and the light emitting component 2 to emit light, and can receive the light signal received by the light receiver 4 and convert the light signal into an electric signal for processing. In some other embodiments of the present application, the sensor body 1 further comprises a mounting cavity arranged on the side away from the accommodating space. The mounting cavity is used to accommodate the controller 6.

[0034] The bottom wall of the accommodating space is provided with a through hole. The conductive terminals of the light emitting component 2, the light emitter 3 and the light receiver 4 can pass through the through hole and be connected to the controller 6.

[0035] In some other embodiments of the present application, the lens 5 is integrally formed with the sensor body 1.

[0036] In some other embodiments of the present application, the lens 5 is fixedly connected to the sensor body 1. Specifically, the lens 5 and the sensor body 1 are fixedly connected together by gluing.

[0037] In some other embodiments of the present application, the sensor body 1 is provided with a limiting groove. The lens 5 can be mounted on the sensor body 1 through the limiting groove.

[0038] The light emitting component 2 and the light emitter 3 emit light via the corresponding lens 5, and the light receiver 4 receives light after the light is collected via the corresponding lens 5, and converts the light signal into an electric signal.

[0039] Optionally, the lens 5 in the present application can be selected as a convex lens and a Fresnel lens. The convex lens can be set as a flat convex mirror. In the present embodiment, the lens 5 is configured as a Fresnel lens. Since the Fresnel lens is composed of a series of concentric annular conical surfaces, its shape is closer to a flat mirror, but each conical surface has a similar light condensing effect as a spherical lens, which makes the Fresnel lens have the advantages of clearer and sharper imaging effect and less distortion. Therefore, by setting the lens 5 as a Fresnel lens in the present application, the light receiver 4 is more sensitive to the capture of strong and weak light, effectively improving the accuracy of the detection results of the cliff sensor 1.

[0040] The light emitter 3 can be set as an infrared light emitter or a visible light emitter.

[0041] In the present embodiment, the light emitting component 2 is configured as an LED lamp, the light emitter 3 is configured as an infrared light emitter, and the light receiver 4 is configured as an infrared light receiver.

[0042] In other embodiments of the present application, a sweeping robot includes a sweeping robot body and the cliff sensor 100 described above. The bottom edge of the sweeping robot is provided with at least one cliff sensor 100.

[0043] One cliff sensor 100 is arranged at a position directly in front of the bottom edge of the sweeping robot body.

[0044] A plurality of cliff sensors 100 are uniformly distributed along the bottom edge of the sweeping robot.

[0045] In the present application, at least one mounting groove is arranged on the sweeping robot body, and each mounting groove mounts one cliff sensor 100. Specifically, a limiting protrusion is arranged in the mounting groove, and a recess is arranged on the outer side of the sensor body 1. The cliff sensor 100 is pushed into the mounting groove, so that the limiting protrusion is clamped with the recess to mount the cliff sensor 100 on the sweeping robot.

[0046] As can be understood by those skilled in the art, the present application adds a light emitting component 2 in the sensor to strengthen the light of the near-field ground, so that the cliff sensor 100 has more accurate detection results for the ground conditions of the near-field ground. The present application effectively solves the problem that the existing cliff sensor 100 has brighter light in the detection area of the far-field ground, darker light in the near-field ground, and inaccurate judgment of the ground conditions of the near-field ground, which causes damage to the sweeping robot. The cliff sensor 100 of the present application effectively improves the detection results and thus improves the service life of the sweeping robot, and has a simple structure and is easy to implement.

[0047] So far, the technical solutions of the present application have been described in combination with the foregoing embodiments, but those skilled in the art can easily understand that the protection scope of the present application is not limited to these specific embodiments. Without deviating from the technical principles of the present application, those skilled in the art can split and combine the technical solutions in the above-described embodiments, or make equivalent changes or replacements to related technical features, and any changes, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the technical concept and / or technical principles of the present application will fall within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A cliff sensor, wherein, Comprising: a light emitter and a light receiver; a light-emitting component located on one side of the light emitter and / or on one side of the light receiver for strengthening the intensity of near-field light; a lens provided on the path of the received / emitted light of the light emitter, the light receiver and the light-emitting component to detect the ground conditions of the near / far ground of the space where the cliff sensor is located.

2. The cliff sensor according to claim 1, wherein the lens is configured as a Fresnel lens.

3. The cliff sensor of claim 1, wherein, Further comprising: a sensor body having a containing space therein and being provided with an open end at one end thereof; a partition plate provided in the containing space and separating the containing space into two chambers; the light emitter and the light-emitting component are provided in one of the chambers, and the light receiver is provided in the other chamber.

4. The cliff sensor according to claim 3, wherein the lens is provided at the open end; and / or the surface of the partition plate is treated to eliminate light.

5. The cliff sensor according to claim 3, wherein the partition plate is integrally formed with the sensor body; or the partition plate is fixedly connected with the sensor body.

6. The cliff sensor according to claim 5, wherein the partition plate is fixedly connected with the sensor body by fasteners; or the partition plate is provided with a clamping portion, and the sensor body is provided with a clamping groove, the clamping portion and the clamping groove are clamped together to fixedly connect the partition plate with the sensor body.

7. The cliff sensor of claim 3, wherein, Further comprising: a controller, the light emitter, the light receiver and the light-emitting component are respectively connected with the controller.

8. The cliff sensor according to claim 7, wherein the sensor body further comprises a mounting cavity provided on the side away from the containing space, the mounting cavity is used to accommodate the controller; and / or a through hole is provided on the bottom wall of the containing space, the conductive terminals of the light-emitting component, the light emitter and the light receiver can pass through the through hole and be connected with the controller.

9. The cliff sensor according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting component is configured as an LED lamp; and / or the light emitter is used to emit infrared light or visible light.

10. A robot vacuum cleaner wherein, A sweeping machine body and the cliff sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 9; the bottom edge of the sweeping machine body is provided with at least one cliff sensor.

11. The sweeping robot according to claim 10, wherein a plurality of cliff sensors are uniformly distributed along the bottom edge of the sweeping machine body.

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