Autonomous Floor Cleaner Dynamic Wet Area Display for User Safety
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous floor cleaners lack the ability to dynamically display wet areas on a floor map, making it difficult for users to avoid walking on wet surfaces after cleaning, as they rely solely on static or incomplete information about cleaning progress.
Innovation Solution
A system that tracks and displays wet areas on a mobile device in real-time using a timer calibrated to the flow rate of the cleaner, dynamically updating the wetness estimation based on the cleaner's movement and expected drying time, allowing users to visualize the wetness of different areas over time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If static cleaning progress information is displayed, then the system complexity is low, but the user cannot obtain real-time wet area information for safe navigation
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and stores the expected drying time for different floor areas based on the cleaner's flow rate and cleaning speed. This preliminary computation allows the display system to dynamically update wet area information without requiring complex real-time sensing, resolving the contradiction between information completeness and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The display transitions from static cleaning progress to a dynamic representation that shows wet areas changing over time. The system continuously updates the floor map to reflect the current wetness state based on the cleaner's movement and pre-calculated drying times, providing real-time information while using a relatively simple display mechanism.
2Reliability
If real-time wet area tracking is implemented, then user safety is improved, but the computational requirements and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-computes drying time maps based on the cleaner's flow rate and cleaning speed before actual cleaning operations. This allows the tracking system to simply display pre-calculated information rather than performing complex real-time computations, enhancing user safety while keeping the system relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual copy of the floor plan with wet area overlays that can be displayed on mobile devices. This digital representation allows users to view wet area information without requiring complex physical sensors or real-time computational resources in the cleaner itself.
3Loss of information
If dynamic wetness estimation is displayed, then user awareness of floor conditions is improved, but the information processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates drying time information based on the cleaner's flow rate and cleaning speed before actual cleaning operations. This preliminary computation allows the display to show dynamic wetness estimation without requiring continuous energy-intensive processing during cleaning, reducing real-time energy consumption while maintaining information quality.
Data Source
AI summary
Display of a wet cleaning routine of an autonomous floor cleaning robot is provided. Estimated wetness of areas of the floor can be tracked and displayed to the user so they can avoid walking on those areas of the floor until sufficiently dried. The areas of the map that that are still wet from cleaning can be displayed and transition to a different type of indicia over time as the floor dries. The wet floor status can be tracked with a timer by comparing elapsed time since the autonomous floor cleaner traversed the subject region and dispensed cleaning solution with an estimated drying time for cleaning solution on the floor. The estimated drying time can be based upon the flow rate of the autonomous floor cleaner.