Autonomous Vehicle Cleaning Cubicle Floors with Animal Safety Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for cleaning cubicles in cattle stables require operator involvement and may physically harm animals, as they often clean parallel to the cubicle front sides, failing to account for animals' body parts extending into neighboring cubicles.
Innovation Solution
An autonomous unmanned vehicle equipped with sensors to detect animal presence and lateral partitions, allowing it to clean cubicle floors while maintaining a safety distance from occupied neighboring cubicles, thereby minimizing contact with animals and ensuring thorough cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If cleaning is performed parallel to the front sides of cubicles, then cleaning coverage is maximized, but animals may be physically harmed by contact with cleaning devices
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning device transitions from static parallel cleaning to dynamic approach-based cleaning. The controller dynamically adjusts the cleaning path based on real-time animal presence detection, allowing the device to approach cubicles perpendicular to front sides when safe, thereby maximizing cleaning coverage while avoiding animal contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses animal presence sensors to provide real-time feedback about animal location. This feedback loop enables the controller to make informed decisions about cleaning paths, adjusting the approach direction based on whether animals are detected in neighboring cubicles, thus preventing harmful contact while maintaining effective cleaning.
2Productivity
If cleaning operations are continuous, then productivity is improved, but animals may be exposed to cleaning devices during occupation
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning device operates in periodic cycles, moving between cubicles and adjusting its operation based on animal presence. When animals are detected, the device pauses or modifies cleaning in affected areas, then resumes when safe, creating a periodic pattern that maintains both productivity and animal safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection of animal presence before initiating cleaning operations in each cubicle. This preliminary action allows the controller to plan safe cleaning paths in advance, ensuring continuous productivity while preventing animal exposure to cleaning devices through proactive safety checks.
3Reliability
If sensors detect animal presence in neighboring cubicles, then animal safety is improved, but cleaning area coverage is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from two-dimensional parallel cleaning to three-dimensional approach-based cleaning. By detecting animal presence and adjusting the approach direction from parallel to perpendicular, the device can clean areas that would otherwise be inaccessible, effectively increasing cleaned floor area while maintaining animal safety through spatial dimension changes.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method of cleaning at least a part of a cubicle from a row of individual cubicles (1-4) in a stable, each cubicle having lateral partitions (7-9) extending in the longitudinal direction on each side of the cubicle, the method comprising the steps of providing a sensor arrangement comprising an animal presence sensor for detecting the presence of an animal in a cubicle and a partitions sensor for detecting the lateral partitions, and providing an autonomous unmanned vehicle, the vehicle comprising a control system for controlling the operation of the vehicle and cubicle floor cleaning means, and the method further comprising the steps of detecting by an animal presence sensor a first of the cubicles free of an animal, detecting whether an animal is present in a second of the cubicles neighboring next to the first cubicle, generating a signal by the partitions sensor for the control system of the vehicle regarding the position of the vehicle with respect to at least one lateral partition, and controlling the autonomous vehicle to clean the first cubicle in a cleaning mode, wherein particulars of the cleaning mode are dependent on the presence of an animal in the second neighboring cubicle. The invention also relates to an autonomous unmanned vehicle for cleaning cubicles.