Mapping interface for mobile robots
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous cleaning robots lack the ability to generate customizable and editable maps for efficient on-demand cleaning operations, limiting user control over specific areas within a cleaning mission.
Innovation Solution
A mobile application that allows users to create and edit a master map by positioning and adjusting graphical dividers to define room boundaries, enabling selective cleaning of specific areas, such as rooms or floors, by using a handheld computing device to control the autonomous cleaning robot.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a master map is generated from robot traversal data, then the system provides automated environment mapping, but the user cannot customize or edit specific room boundaries for targeted cleaning operations
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a digital copy of the physical environment map that can be manipulated without affecting the actual space. This graphical representation allows users to edit room boundaries, add labels, and modify cleaning zones by interacting with the 2D map interface rather than the physical environment, enabling customization while maintaining system simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
A mobile application serves as an intermediary between the user and the autonomous cleaning robot. This intermediate software layer provides the map editing interface, allowing users to customize room boundaries and cleaning parameters without directly complicating the robot's hardware or control system architecture
2Productivity
If the entire environment is mapped for cleaning, then complete coverage is achieved, but the user cannot perform selective cleaning of specific areas on demand
Solution Approach 1:
The complete environment map is segmented into individual room boundaries that can be independently selected and edited. Users can divide the overall cleaning area into discrete zones (rooms, floors, or specific areas) by manipulating graphical dividers on the map, allowing selective cleaning of only the required segments rather than cleaning the entire mapped environment
Solution Approach 2:
Different cleaning parameters and boundary definitions can be applied to different local areas of the map. Each room or selected area can have customized cleaning settings, boundary constraints, and mission parameters, allowing the system to optimize cleaning operations for specific local regions while maintaining the ability to expand to full environment coverage when needed
Data Source
AI summary
A method of operating an autonomous cleaning robot includes presenting, on a display of a handheld computing device, a graphical representation of a map including a plurality of selectable rooms, presenting, on the display, at least one selectable graphical divider representing boundaries of at least one of the plurality of selectable rooms, the at least one selectable graphical divider being adjustable to change at least one of the boundaries of the plurality of selectable rooms, receiving input, at the handheld computing device, representing a selection of an individual selectable graphical divider, receiving input, at the handheld computing device, representing at least one adjustment to the individual selectable graphical divider, the at least one adjustment including at least one of moving, rotating, or deleting the individual selectable graphical divider, and presenting, on the display, a graphical representation of a map wherein the individual selectable graphical divider is adjusted.