Vacuum cleaner
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional autonomous-traveling vacuum cleaners require user intervention to record abnormalities, making real-time recording impossible upon occurrence.
Innovation Solution
The vacuum cleaner is equipped with a control unit that switches to an image pickup mode upon detecting an abnormality, using a camera to capture images and transmit them externally, allowing for autonomous recording of events.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the vacuum cleaner requires user instruction for image pickup, then the system complexity is reduced, but the ability to record abnormalities in real time is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The vacuum cleaner autonomously detects abnormalities through sensors and automatically activates the camera to capture images without requiring user intervention. The control unit monitors sensor data and independently decides when image pickup is necessary, enabling the system to serve itself in detecting and recording abnormal situations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors sensor feedback during cleaning operations and uses this information to trigger image pickup when abnormalities are detected. The control unit processes sensor data in real-time and activates the camera based on predefined abnormality conditions, creating a closed-loop feedback system that responds automatically to detected issues.
2Reliability
If the vacuum cleaner autonomously switches to image pickup mode upon detecting abnormalities, then real-time recording is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit performs multiple functions: it manages cleaning operations, processes sensor data for abnormality detection, and controls camera activation. By making the control unit multi-functional, the patent avoids adding separate dedicated components for each function, thereby managing complexity while achieving reliable autonomous abnormality recording.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the abnormality detection function and image pickup control function within the existing control unit structure. Rather than creating separate independent systems, the control unit integrates sensor monitoring and camera activation logic, merging multiple functions into a unified control architecture that reduces overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A vacuum cleaner capable of recording an abnormality immediately upon occurrence of the abnormality. The vacuum cleaner has a main casing. The vacuum cleaner has driving wheels for enabling the main casing to travel. The vacuum cleaner has a control unit for controlling drive of the driving wheels to make the main casing autonomously travel. The control unit has a function as an abnormality sensor for detecting an abnormality. The vacuum cleaner has a camera for picking up an image. The control unit has a cleaning mode for cleaning a cleaning-object surface, an image pickup mode for performing image pickup with the camera, and a standby mode applied during a standby state. Upon detection of an abnormality during the cleaning mode, the control unit is switched over to the image pickup mode to perform image pickup with the camera.