1667 results about "Roomba" patented technology

A mobile robot guest for interacting with a human resident performs a room-traversing search procedure prior to interacting with the resident, and may verbally query whether the resident being sought is present. Upon finding the resident, the mobile robot may facilitate a teleconferencing session with a remote third party, or interact with the resident in a number of ways. For example, the robot may carry on a dialogue with the resident, reinforce compliance with medication or other schedules, etc. In addition, the robot incorporates safety features for preventing collisions with the resident; and the robot may audibly announce and / or visibly indicate its presence in order to avoid becoming a dangerous obstacle. Furthermore, the mobile robot behaves in accordance with an integral privacy policy, such that any sensor recording or transmission must be approved by the resident.

A method and system for performing invasive procedures includes a surgical robot which is controlled by a guidance system that uses time of flight calculations from RF transmitters embedded in the robot, surgical instrument, and patient anatomy. Sensors around the room detect RF transmissions emitted by the RF transmitters and drive the robot according to a preprogrammed trajectory entered into the guidance system.

A method and system for performing invasive procedures includes a surgical robot which is controlled by a guidance system that uses time of flight calculations from RF transmitters embedded in the robot, surgical instrument, and patient anatomy. Sensors around the room detect RF transmissions emitted by the RF transmitters and drive the robot according to a preprogrammed trajectory entered into the guidance system.

A coding method and apparatus for linking electrical appliances for control and status reporting by arbitrarily appending the appliances remote control protocol with the premise's room / zone code for identifying the appliance location and ID-code to operate on the basis of the appliance type and function, sub header code define the command nature, a blank header identifies the signal and a checksum trailer ends the five byte command for operating a range of appliances, lights and LED illuminators, locally and in the different rooms, bathrooms, kitchen and laundry including provision for extending the commands when needed. Current sensors for power outlets and power cables linked via lightguides or fiber optic use same codes for reporting statuses of and current consumption by the appliances and lights to the video interphone or the shopping terminal. LED bulbs are coded through an optical transceiver accessed through the rear of the bulb socket.

A thermostat system according to the invention includes: a central control device (typically a programmable thermostat with a processor having: a CPU, real time clock and a memory for storing a control program and data information), multiple rooms comprising a conditioned space, environmental control equipment, and multiple environmental sensors capable of sensing an environmental condition (such as temperature, humidity, or other condition). The sensors are associated with transmission means, which control transmission of sensor signals, and occupancy sensors. Each sensor measures a local environmental condition. Occupancy sensors comprise infrared or other motion sensors, light detection sensors, door opening sensors, and other such sensors that detect the presence of humans in a room of the conditioned space where its associated sensor is located. Space conditioning equipment is activated by comparison of a setpoint to a control value averaged from values of environmental conditions in occupied rooms.

A method and system for performing invasive procedures includes a surgical robot which is controlled by a guidance system that uses time of flight calculations from RF transmitters embedded in the robot, surgical instrument, and patient anatomy. Sensors around the room detect RF transmissions emitted by the RF transmitters and drive the robot according to a preprogrammed trajectory entered into the guidance system.

Systems and methods for selecting equipment for use in buildings are disclosed. The system may include at least one processor configured to perform operations that include accessing a floor plan demarcating a plurality of rooms. The operations further include accessing functional requirements associated with the rooms and accessing technical specifications associated with the functional requirements. The operations include performing floor plan analysis on the floor plan to ascertain room features associated with the functional requirements and technical specifications. The operations include generatively analyzing the room features to determine a customized equipment configuration for at least some of the rooms, and generating a manufacturer dataset including a room identifier, an equipment identifier, and the customized equipment configuration. The manufacturer dataset enables a manufacturer to customize equipment for the rooms and package the customized equipment to display the room identifier.

Disclosed is a room planning and design system, comprising a virtual room space comprising a virtual representation of a physical room space, an object library of virtual objects, said virtual objects comprising virtual representations of equipment, machines and objects that may be placed in a room, a user interface comprising a first user interface component for selecting said virtual objects from said virtual library and positioning them in said virtual room space, a second user interface component for manipulating the positions and orientations of said virtual objects within said virtual room space, a workspace comprising a physical model of said physical room space, physical marker objects substantially scaled to said workspace for manual placement and orientation of said markers objects in said workspace, one or more detectors for detecting information regarding the positioning of said marker objects in said workspace and transmitting said information to a visualization module, and said visualization module adapted to receive said information from said detectors and utilize said information for positioning said virtual objects within said virtual room space.

An HVAC system for conditioning air of an associated room includes one or more power consuming features / functions including at least one temperature controlling element for one of heating and cooling air. A controller is operatively connected to the one or more power consuming features / functions. The controller is configured to receive and process a signal indicative of a utility state. The controller operates the HVAC system in one of a plurality or operating modes, including at least a normal operating mode and an energy savings mode in response to the received signal. The controller is configured to at least one of selectively adjust and deactivate at least one of the one or more power consuming features / functions to reduce power consumption of the HVAC system in the energy savings mode.

Electronic devices, systems, and methods are disclosed for remote and / or automated monitoring of temperature, humidity, or other factors in a building during a remediation project, such as after a flood or mold infestation. These devices comprise sensors devices that can be distributed around a room or building, for transmitting data to a processor such as a laptop computer. Using telephone, cell phone, or internet connections, the processor can transmit compiled data to a website or remote computer, for analysis and use by a project supervisor. Sensor-switch devices also are disclosed for turning fans, dehumidifiers, or other equipment on or off. Using a telephone, cell phone, or internet connnection, a project supervisor at any location can download information, obtain current status information, and turn equipment on or off as needed.

The system includes an enclosure provided upward through a hole provided in a ceiling. The enclosure includes a motor for lifting a set of shelves into the enclosure. The enclosure protects the set of shelves and its contents from moisture and heat, and prevents heat and moisture from escaping from one room to another, across the enclosure. The system is designed to allow installation of the entire system from the lower level, without requiring access to the upper level.

An architecture for minimizing calibration effort in an IEEE 802.11 device location measurement system. The calibration technique is based upon a regression function that produces adequately accurate location information as a function of signal strength regardless of gaps in the calibration data or minimally available data. The algorithm takes a set of signal strengths from known room locations in a building and generates a function giving (x,y) as a function of signal strength, which function may then be used for the estimation of new locations. Radial basis functions, which are simple to express and compute, are used for regression. The fact that the algorithm maps signal strength to continuous location makes it possible to skip rooms during calibration, yet still evaluate the location in those rooms.

A system comprising a portable unit which can be temporarily placed outside a patient room comprising a processor, memory, a speaker or voice generator, and programming to allow an authorized user to select (A) a disease or medical condition which corresponds to preprogrammed simulated voice warnings, for example “wash hands,”“wear gown,”“wear gloves,”“wear mask,”“dispose of gown,”“use hand sanitizer,”“wash hands with soap and water after removing protective clothing,” and combinations of said voice warnings; or (B) one or more of said preprogrammed voice warnings; a room entry detector programmed to activate the simulated voice warnings, the system configured so that when entry to the room is detected, one or a combination of the simulated voice warnings is emitted by the system.

A method for authenticating a room entering person who tries to enter an area where one or more structural elements are present is determined by employing a hardware token storing attribute information of the person. A security level of each of the structural elements presently located within the area is acquired via network. The attribute information of the person is acquired from the hardware token. A present security level of the area is determined by employing the security levels of the structural elements. A present trust level of the person is determined by employing the attribute information of the person. An authenticating method of the person is determined in a manner that at least one authenticating method is selected from plural authenticating methods by employing the determined present security level of the area and the determined present trust level of the person.

A room condition monitor (RCM) that includes a processor with an embedded router software object that is in signal communication with a first communication connector including BACnet / IP interface for the transmission receipt of data packages over a building management system (BMS) communication network according to a BACnet / IP protocol. The RCM also includes a room condition sensor for detecting a room condition. In addition, the RCM includes a projected capacitive LCD screen display to display information regarding the detected room condition, or other building information associated with the BMS. A second communication connector with a second network protocol interface is provided for communication with network legacy devises through the RCM router.

A wall climbing robot using an Indoor Global Positioning System (IGPS) provided in a room is disclosed. The wall climbing robot includes a navigation receiver configured to receive rotating fan beams emitted from one or more navigation transmitters of the indoor global positioning system, and recognize the rotating fan beams as IGPS signals; a robot frame provided with the navigation receiver mounted; a mobile controller configured to be installed on the robot frame, and to recognize and determine its own position using the IGPS signals; and a drive mechanism configured to travel along the surfaces of the room under control of the mobile controller. The mobile controller includes a central processing unit, an input / output unit, a motion control unit, a drive control unit, a navigation control unit, a sensor signal processor, an emergency processing unit, and an alarm generator.

A robot cleaner and controlling method thereof are disclosed. Accordingly, a cleaning area is partitioned with reference to a door by recognizing the door and the partitioned cleaning areas can be cleaned in consecutive order. The present invention includes the steps of deriving a door location in a cleaning area through an image information, composing a cleaning map by detecting an obstacle in the cleaning area, creating a room information for distinguishing a plurality of rooms partitioned with reference to the door from each other by having the derived door location reflected in the cleaning map, and performing a cleaning by room units distinguished from each other through the room information.

The invention discloses an indoor navigation control system and method based on LED lighting devices. A characteristic that the LED lighting devices are widely distributed indoor and relatively fixed is used and a Wi-Fi module is arranged in each LED lighting device. Position information of each LED lighting device is stored in a position server in the name of a unique MAC address of the LED lighting device, that is, an actual geographic position of each LED lighting device is bound with the unique MAC address of the LED lighting device. When a user enters an unfamiliar building, an intelligent terminal is used to communicate with the LED lighting devices and the position server so as to acquire a node planar distribution diagram of room distribution as if a map is generated so that the system is capable of providing Wi-Fi indoor positioning and navigation more accurate than a conventional wireless router. Moreover, if the indoor navigation control system is applied to large-scale places such as supermarkets, exhibition halls and museums and the like, related promotion or tour information and the like can be pushed according to a current position of a user.

A disclosed authentication instrument is used to authorize various services at a hotel-casino complex, such as but not limited to in-room gaming, in-room sports wagering, room access, safe access, mini-bar access, Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT), player tracking services and in-room entertainment services (e.g., video games and movie channels). A smart card, an electronic token and a magnetic striped card are examples of hardware that may be used as authentication instruments. For in-room gaming, the authentication instrument may be used to authorize, in a secure and legal manner, in-room game play sessions on an entertainment terminal connected to a remote gaming machine.

The invention discloses a central air-conditioning modeling and controlling strategy on the basis of demand response, which comprises the following steps of building a room model, namely the relation between the indoor temperature and outdoor temperature of the room and sensible heat cooling load; building a center air-conditioning model suitable for the system operation of the demand response, namely the relation between air conditioning load and a decision variable; determining a controlling strategy, namely making an objective function, a control variable, a constraint condition and the like clear; solving the objective function by adopting a harmony search algorithm combining with a state space truncation method; obtaining a result, and performing analysis and treatment on the result. According to the central air-conditioning modeling and controlling strategy on the basis of the demand response, through meticulously building the models, making the strategy of multiple control variables cooperative optimization clear, scientific theoretical support is provided for the central air-conditioning to participate in the system operation of the demand response.

An automated (robotic) floor cleaner (100) is adapted to allow sterile cleaning of sensitive environments, such as hospital room. In particular, the floor-cleaner chassis (124) is redesigned to be mounted on a deck (102) containing cleaning devices that contact the floor. The cleaning devices mounted on the deck (102) include vacuum head (132), brushes (120), cleaning fluid sprays (128), and conceivably sanitizing devices such as UV germicidal light, are provided pre-sterilized. As such, the adapted floor-cleaner chassis (124) allows the deck (102) to be mounted to the bottom of the chassis (124), the floor-cleaner (100) is then used to clean a floor, after which, the deck (102) is removed from the chassis (124) and disposed. The robotic-floor cleaner (100) and sterilization system cleans floor between or even during cases. Further, the robotic floor cleaner (100) reduces the “turnover time” required between cases, as it operates simultaneously while the staff prepares the room for the next case.

Methods, systems, and wearable extended reality devices for generating a floorplan of an indoor scene are provided. A room classification of a room and a wall classification of a wall for the room may be determined from an input image of the indoor scene. A floorplan may be determined based at least in part upon the room classification and the wall classification without constraining a total number of rooms in the indoor scene or a size of the room.

Methods for generating a floor plan from a building scan of a building using an electronic computing device are presented, the method including: causing the electronic computing device to receive the building scan; converting the building scan to a floor plan; and refining the floor plan to approximate the building. In some embodiments, the causing the electronic computing device to receive the building scan further includes: extracting information from an input file to obtain a representation of a number of rooms and walls corresponding with the building scan, where the information is selected from the group consisting of: a set of vertices, a set of triangles, and a set of rooms.

A method of controlling cooling fluid provisioning in a room housing a plurality of components. The room includes at least one plenum having one or more cooling system components configured to vary a characteristic of at least one of cooling fluid supply to and removal from the room. In the method, location aware sensors are positioned at various locations in the room and their locations are determined. One or more conditions are detected with the location aware sensors and it is determined whether to manipulate at least one of the one or more cooling system components to modify a characteristic of cooling fluid contained in the plenum based upon the detected one or more conditions. In addition, at least one of the one or more cooling system components is manipulated in response to a determination to that the at least of the one or more cooling system components is to be modified.

Methods for detecting a number of luminary fixtures in an indoor environment using an electronic image capture device and electronic computing device are presented, the methods including: capturing a ceiling scan of the indoor environment with at least the electronic image capture device; analyzing a synthetic ceiling image corresponding with the ceiling scan using the electronic computing device to identify a number of luminary candidates; and converting the number of luminary candidates to define the number of luminary fixtures. In some embodiments, the capturing the ceiling scan further includes: moving the electronic image capture device through the indoor environment; capturing the indoor environment; generating a point cloud of the indoor environment; colorizing the point cloud; extracting the colored point cloud of a ceiling; dividing the extracted point cloud into a number of rooms; and generating the synthetic ceiling image for each of the number of rooms.

A system for detecting at least one environmental condition in a room. The system includes one or more detecting devices having a sensor configured to detect the at least one environmental condition and to display the detected at least one environmental condition. The system also includes one or more reader devices configured to image the one or more detecting devices and a controller configured to communicate with the one or more reader devices. The controller is operable to control the one or more reader devices and to receive the images from the one or more reader devices. In addition, the controller is configured to determine the at least one environmental condition based upon the images of the one or more detecting devices. The system further includes a memory accessible by the controller, and the controller is configured to store the at least one environmental condition in the memory.

A task-centered scheduling system is disclosed, whereupon a manager could schedule a task with a number of attributes for resources (such as persons, types of rooms, tools, machinery, ingredients, etc.). The system then matches resources with the task so that the task could be completed. For example, if a manager schedules a task for a person with cleaning skills to clean a dirty room with a mop and a bucket with soap, the scheduler will find an available person with cleaning skills, allocate the mop and bucket to that available person, and send that available person to the dirty room to clean it. The system keeps track of the resources in order to know what resources are available for allocating to a task, and different tasks may have different priorities which could cause lower priority tasks to be rescheduled in favor of higher priority tasks.

The invention discloses a multi-network-combined home microgrid electric-energy consumption interactive management system and a method thereof. Based on a plurality of network protocols, a communication mode is selected for realizing information interaction between equipment. Intelligent monitoring equipment is used for monitoring. Network communication is performed through a home gateway, the intelligent monitoring equipment and a power grid. A management server acquires and analyzes information of the intelligent monitoring equipment and acquires an optimal electric-energy utilization solution. Particularly, the multi-network-combined home microgrid electric-energy consumption interactive management system comprises a home microgrid electric-energy consumption management terminal, the home gateway, an intelligent socket, a distributed-power-supply accessing integrated device, a temperature and humidity sensor, an infrared sensor and a smart meter. The multi-network-combined home microgrid electric-energy consumption interactive management system realizes multi-network fusion and intercommunication; information interaction among different kinds of equipment; acquisition for information of main home electric-energy consumption equipment, distributed power generating equipment and room environment; network communication between the intelligent monitoring equipment and a power grid information service platform; effective interaction between a user and the power grid; high-efficiency electric-energy management and sufficient utilization for clean renewable energy.