Cleaning Robot Angled Threshold Crossing for Multi-Room Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cleaning robots, such as vacuum robots, face challenges in reliably navigating and cleaning areas with speed bumps or ground thresholds due to their low height and small drive wheels, which can lead to incorrect obstacle detection and incomplete cleaning.
Innovation Solution
The cleaning robot is equipped with environment sensors and a control unit that use digital map information and environmental data to detect threshold areas, allowing it to approach and cross speed bumps at an angle, avoiding perpendicular collisions and ensuring efficient passage over ground thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the cleaning robot has low height and small drive wheels to clean under furniture, then it can access areas under tables and chairs, but it cannot reliably traverse ground thresholds and door sills
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit determines threshold areas in advance using environment sensors and digital map information before the cleaning robot encounters them. This allows the robot to plan an angled approach path beforehand, ensuring reliable traversal of ground thresholds despite its low height and small wheels that would otherwise make such obstacles impassable.
2Measurement precision
If the cleaning robot approaches ground thresholds perpendicular to them, then it can directly detect the threshold, but it incorrectly identifies the threshold as an insurmountable obstacle
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of approaching ground thresholds symmetrically (perpendicularly), the control unit steers the cleaning robot to approach at an asymmetric angle between 0° and 90°. This angled approach allows the robot to climb onto the threshold using its drive wheels while environment sensors continuously detect the threshold's position and orientation, resolving the contradiction between detection accuracy and successful traversal.
Solution Approach 2:
Environment sensors continuously provide feedback about the threshold area during the approach and traversal process. The control unit uses this real-time sensor data to adjust the robot's position and orientation, enabling reliable crossing of ground thresholds while maintaining accurate detection of the threshold's location and dimensions.
3Measurement precision
If the cleaning robot uses environment sensors to detect threshold areas, then it can identify passages and doors, but it requires complex processing of environmental data and digital map information
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit performs preliminary determination of threshold areas by analyzing environment sensor data and digital map information before the robot reaches the threshold. This advance processing identifies passages, doors, and potential threshold locations, allowing the robot to plan its approach without requiring complex real-time processing during traversal, thus balancing detection precision with manageable system complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 1c~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A cleaning robot (100) for cleaning the floor of a cleaning area is described. The cleaning robot (100) comprises one or more environmental sensors (110) configured to acquire environmental data relating to a first cleaning area. The cleaning robot (100) also comprises at least one drive unit (101) configured to cause movement of the cleaning robot (100) within the first cleaning area. Furthermore, the cleaning robot (100) comprises a control unit (130) configured to determine, based on the environmental data, that a sub-area of the first cleaning area to be traversed is a threshold area (201) in which a floor threshold (206) could be located.The control unit (130) is further configured to control the drive unit (101) in such a way that the cleaning robot (100) approaches the threshold area (201) at an angle, in order to cause the cleaning robot (100) to drive onto the floor threshold (206) at an angle.