Method for operating a mobile self-propelled appliance and mobile self-propelled appliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of autonomous cleaning robots, such as robot vacuum cleaners, face difficulties in easily and conveniently starting or stopping cleaning processes without access to their smartphone or having to physically interact with the device, leading to disturbances and potential misinterpretation of user intentions by the robot.
Innovation Solution
A method that utilizes an existing tactile sensor on the robot to recognize user commands by multiple taps within a short time period, distinguishing between collision detection and user input, allowing users to initiate or cancel cleaning tasks without additional technology, and adapt cleaning procedures intuitively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the tactile sensor is used for collision detection only, then the robot can reliably detect obstacles, but the user cannot easily control the robot without additional devices
Solution Approach 1:
The tactile sensor is assigned multiple functions: it serves both as a collision detection sensor for obstacle avoidance and as a user input device for controlling cleaning operations. By making the sensor universal, the patent eliminates the need for separate control interfaces, allowing users to operate the robot simply by tapping it, thus improving ease of operation without adding device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The robot utilizes its own existing tactile sensor structure to provide control functionality, rather than requiring external controllers or additional interfaces. The sensor serves the dual purpose of protecting the robot from obstacles and enabling user commands, making the system self-sufficient and reducing overall complexity
2Reliability
If the robot responds to single taps as collision detection, then it can avoid obstacles effectively, but it cannot distinguish user commands from collisions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces periodic/timed action by requiring multiple rapid taps within a specific time window to register as a user command. This temporal pattern recognition allows the robot to distinguish between accidental single taps (treated as collisions) and deliberate multi-tap sequences (treated as commands), thereby maintaining reliable obstacle detection while adding versatile user control capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts its interpretation of tactile sensor signals based on the frequency and pattern of taps. Rather than a static response to any tap, the robot evaluates the temporal dynamics of multiple taps to determine user intent, enabling it to adapt its behavior according to whether the input represents an obstacle or a command
3Ease of operation
If the user must use smartphone or local interface to control the robot, then precise control is possible, but the operation becomes complicated and inconvenient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential control function from complex interfaces (smartphone apps, local buttons) and implements it directly through the tactile sensor. By taking out the core control capability and embedding it in the robot's body through multi-tap recognition, the system achieves simple operation while maintaining sufficient control precision for common tasks like starting/stopping cleaning
Data Source
AI summary
A method operates a mobile self-propelled appliance, in particular a floor cleaning appliance, such as a robot vacuum cleaner and/or robot sweeper and/or robot mopping appliance. The mobile self-propelled appliance has at least one tactile sensor, which is provided for collision detection of the mobile self-propelled appliance with obstacles and which, in addition to the collision detection, triggers at least one user command if a user presses against the tactile sensor n times in a predetermined time period, wherein n>1.