Fully floating contact redirecting device for cleaning robot
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning robots face inefficiencies when navigating corners or areas with multiple obstacles, as they require repeated forward and backward movements and fixed-angle turns to avoid walls and obstacles, leading to poor cleaning efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A fully floating contact redirecting device for cleaning robots, featuring a top cover, a contact unit floating between the robot body and top cover, and sensing units on either side, allows the robot to dynamically change direction based on contact with obstacles or walls, reducing the need for repeated turns and improving navigation efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the sensing device or top cover is located in the moving direction to detect obstacles, then the robot can sense walls and obstacles, but the robot must repeat forward movement, retreat, and fixed-angle turns to navigate corners and complex spaces, leading to poor cleaning efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the top cover and contact units movable rather than fixed. The top cover can rotate independently of the robot body, and contact units can move relative to the top cover. This dynamic structure allows the robot to directly orient toward obstacles and execute variable-angle turns without repeated fixed-angle maneuvers, significantly improving navigation efficiency in corners and complex spaces while maintaining obstacle detection capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the robot's navigation system into independent functional modules: the robot body for movement, the top cover for detection and orientation, and contact units for direct obstacle interaction. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function independently, enabling the top cover to detect obstacles while the robot body executes optimized turn paths based on contact unit feedback, reducing wasted movement time
2Reliability
If the robot repeats the process of moving forward, retreating, and turning to move away from corners or obstacles, then the robot can avoid collisions, but the cleaning efficiency deteriorates due to multiple turns and prolonged navigation time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by using contact units that directly contact obstacles and provide real-time positional information to the control system. This feedback mechanism allows the robot to determine the exact angle and direction of obstacles, enabling it to calculate and execute the optimal turn angle directly toward the obstacle rather than using repeated trial-and-error maneuvers. The feedback loop ensures reliable collision avoidance while minimizing navigation time
Data Source
AI summary
A fully floating contact redirecting device for a cleaning robot, wherein a contact unit is floatingly disposed on a surface of a robot body in a forward direction, and at least one sensing unit is respectively disposed on opposite sides of the contact unit in a direction opposite to the forward direction. An angle at which the robot body is retracted and turned to avoid a wall or an obstacle is determined by a position where the contact unit goes into contact with the sensing unit after the contact unit touches the wall or the obstacle, thereby solving the problem of going through multiple turns to move in an obstacle-free direction and improving the cleaning efficiency of the cleaning robot.