Control method of autonomous cleaner, control device, non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a control program, and autonomous cleaner

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing autonomous cleaners can only determine if a person is present in a single cleaning area and stop or start cleaning based on that, without considering multiple areas, leading to potential discomfort for guests as they may clean areas where people are present, causing noise and stirring up dust.

Innovation Solution

A control method that estimates the presence of people in a predetermined space and identifies person-present and surrounding cleaning target areas, deciding which areas are cleanable to avoid disturbing guests, by dividing the space into multiple areas and using surrounding area information to determine cleanable zones.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If automated cleaning is performed in all cleaning target areas, then cleaning productivity is improved, but people in the vicinity may feel uncomfortable due to noise and dust

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecleaning productivityVSAvoidnoise and dust disturbance to people

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The cleaning target areas are divided into multiple individual areas, and the autonomous cleaner selectively cleans only those areas where no people are present, rather than cleaning all areas uniformly. This segmentation allows cleaning operations to proceed in multiple locations simultaneously while avoiding areas with people.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different cleaning actions are applied to different areas based on local conditions (presence or absence of people). Areas without people receive full cleaning operations, while areas with people are excluded from cleaning, creating locally optimized cleaning quality that balances productivity with comfort.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Object-affected harmful factors

If the autonomous cleaner stops cleaning when a person is present in a cleaning area, then people's comfort is improved, but cleaning productivity decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepeople's comfortVSAvoidcleaning productivity

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of stopping all cleaning operations when a person is detected in one area, the system segments the cleaning task and continues cleaning in other areas where no people are present, maintaining overall productivity while protecting local comfort.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The autonomous cleaner performs partial cleaning actions by selecting and cleaning only the subset of areas where people are absent, rather than performing complete cleaning on all areas. This partial action approach maintains productivity by cleaning available areas while avoiding disturbance to occupied areas.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Device complexity

If determination is made only for a single cleaning area, then device complexity is reduced, but the ability to clean multiple areas efficiently is limited

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedetermination system complexityVSAvoidmulti-area cleaning efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The predetermined space is divided into multiple discrete cleaning target areas, each of which can be independently evaluated for person presence. This segmentation enables efficient multi-area cleaning by allowing the autonomous cleaner to process and decision-making for multiple areas in a systematic manner.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The same person presence determination process is applied universally across all cleaning target areas, allowing the autonomous cleaner to handle multiple areas with a consistent methodology rather than requiring separate complex systems for each area.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS10694910B2Control method of autonomous cleaner, control device, non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a control program, and autonomous cleaner

Publication Date: 2020.06.30 PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORP OF AMERICA

AI summary

A management device that controls an autonomous cleaner includes a processing circuitry that obtains an electronic floor plan of a predetermined space, the predetermined space being a cleaning range of the autonomous cleaner. The management device estimates a person-present position at which a person is present in the predetermined space, and divides the predetermined space into a plurality of cleaning target areas to be individually cleaned by the autonomous cleaner. The management device further identifies a cleaning target area including the person-present position where the person is estimated to be present, as a person-present cleaning target area. The management device further identifies a cleaning target area around the person-present cleaning target area as a surrounding cleaning target area. The management device determines, among the multiple cleaning target areas, cleaning target areas other than the person-present cleaning target area and the surrounding cleaning target area to be cleanable areas.