Charging Station Camera Tracking for Robot Theft Detection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Lawn mower robots operating outdoors face challenges in theft detection and location recognition due to the lack of effective monitoring and theft notification systems, especially when traveling in designated outdoor areas with varying terrain.
Innovation Solution
A moving robot system equipped with a charging station featuring a camera that captures and transmits images to a mobile terminal, adjusts its angle and height to track the robot, and monitors its location, enabling theft detection and improved outdoor navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a lawn mower robot operates outdoors in a designated region, then it can perform lawn mowing autonomously, but it becomes vulnerable to theft due to lack of monitoring
Solution Approach 1:
A camera is introduced as an intermediary monitoring device between the robot and the environment. The camera captures images of the robot and transmits them to a mobile terminal, enabling remote surveillance without interfering with the robot's autonomous operation. This resolves the contradiction by adding theft prevention capability while maintaining automation.
2Reliability
If a camera is installed in the charging station to monitor the robot, then theft detection is enabled, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The charging station is designed to serve multiple functions: it charges the robot battery and houses the camera for monitoring. By combining these functions in a single station, the system avoids adding separate monitoring infrastructure, thus reducing overall system complexity while enabling theft detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The camera captures images and transmits them to a mobile terminal, creating a feedback loop that provides real-time information about the robot's status. This feedback mechanism enables theft detection without requiring complex centralized monitoring systems, as the user receives direct visual feedback on their device.
3Reliability
If the camera captures images to detect theft, then user notification is enabled, but response time is delayed until separation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by capturing images continuously or at regular intervals before theft occurs. The camera is positioned and configured in advance to monitor the robot, so that when theft happens, images are already available for immediate notification, reducing the time delay between theft and user awareness.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the camera height is adjusted to improve location recognition, then outdoor terrain adaptability increases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The camera is mounted on a movable support structure that allows dynamic adjustment of the camera's height and angle. This dynamic positioning capability enables the camera to adapt to different outdoor terrain conditions and robot locations, improving recognition accuracy without requiring multiple fixed camera installations.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a moving robot system including a moving robot and a charging station. The charging station includes a camera formed to capture the moving robot, a communication unit configured to communicate with the moving robot, a charging contact unit configured to charge the moving robot, and a control unit configured to control the camera to receive a preview image obtained by capturing the moving robot on the basis that the moving robot having been in contact with the charging contact unit is separated from the charging contact unit. The control unit performs different types of control on the basis of whether information indicating that the moving robot is being separated from the charging contact unit is received before the moving robot is separated from the charging contact unit.