Edge detection system
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile automated devices, such as robotic vacuums and lawn mowers, face challenges in effectively identifying and avoiding dangerous drop-offs and edges, often resulting in damage when encountering stairs or ledges.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of rangefinder sensors positioned on the device to detect changes in distance to a surface, triggering movement patterns to avoid edges by calculating distances using emitted signals and determining when a change exceeds a predetermined threshold, allowing the device to initiate actions such as reversing or turning away from the edge.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional sensors are used to detect edges, then the device can identify some obstacles, but it cannot precisely differentiate between dangerous drop-offs and traversable elevation changes
Solution Approach 1:
The edge detection system is segmented into multiple independent rangefinder sensors positioned at different locations (front, side, and bottom of the device). Each sensor independently measures distance to surfaces in its specific direction, allowing the system to detect edges from multiple angles and determine whether an elevation change is a dangerous drop-off or a traversable step based on the pattern of distance measurements across different sensor positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces rangefinder sensors as intermediary devices that actively emit signals and measure reflected distances to create a detailed map of the environment. These sensors serve as mediators between the mobile device and the surface it traverses, providing precise distance data that enables differentiation between safe and dangerous edges through calculated distance changes rather than direct physical contact.
2Reliability
If the device avoids all detected edges, then it prevents damage from dangerous drop-offs, but it also fails to traverse legitimate surfaces with safe elevation changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts its response to detected edges based on real-time analysis of distance changes from multiple rangefinder sensors. Rather than using a static avoidance rule, the device calculates the magnitude and pattern of distance changes across different sensor positions to determine whether an edge is safe to traverse or dangerous to avoid, enabling adaptive navigation that balances safety with traversability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter for edge detection from a simple binary presence/absence detection to a multi-dimensional analysis of distance changes across multiple sensor positions. By monitoring how distance measurements change across different rangefinder locations and comparing these changes against predetermined thresholds, the system can distinguish between safe elevation changes (small distance changes) and dangerous drop-offs (large distance changes).
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise detection and avoidance of dangerous edges, differentiating between hazardous and traversable elevation changes, thereby preventing damage and ensuring safe operation of mobile automated devices.
Implementation Method 1
obtaining, with one or more rangefinder sensors positioned on a mobile automated device, distances from the one or more rangefinder sensors to a surface
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor effectuate operations including: obtaining, with one or more rangefinder sensors positioned on a mobile automated device, distances from the one or more rangefinder sensors to a surface; monitoring, with the processor, the distances sensed by each of the one or more rangefinder sensors; detecting, with the processor, an edge when a change in the distances is greater than a predetermined amount; and actuating, with the processor, the mobile automated device to execute one or more movement patterns upon detecting the edge, wherein the one or more movement patterns initiates movement of the mobile automated device away from the area where the edge was detected.