Mobile Robot Coverage Planning Around Hazards and Debris Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic devices lack efficiency in navigating and operating within environments containing operational hazards, as they do not effectively identify and adapt to these hazards during their work cycles.
Innovation Solution
The robotic device employs sensors to capture data on operational hazards, generates a map of the environment, determines the type of hazard, and adjusts its coverage plan to maneuver around detected hazards, prioritizing areas with low hazard likelihood for efficient operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robotic device operates in a work environment with operational hazards, then the productivity is maintained, but the reliability deteriorates due to potential hazards affecting device functionality
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic device performs preliminary mapping and hazard identification before executing the coverage plan. The system captures sensor data, generates environment maps, and identifies operational hazards in advance, allowing it to plan safe paths and prioritize safe areas first, thereby maintaining productivity while ensuring reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the work environment using sensors during operation, compares actual conditions with the pre-generated map, and dynamically adjusts the coverage plan based on detected hazards. This feedback loop ensures the robot can adapt to new hazards while maintaining efficient operation
2Reliability
If the robotic device avoids all operational hazards, then the reliability is improved, but the productivity deteriorates due to extended operation time
Solution Approach 1:
The work environment is divided into multiple areas with different safety priorities. The system segments the coverage plan into priority levels, allowing the robotic device to efficiently complete safe areas first while allocating more time to hazardous areas, thus balancing reliability and productivity
Solution Approach 2:
Different areas of the work environment are assigned different operational characteristics based on hazard levels. Safe areas are cleaned with standard efficiency, while hazardous areas receive customized handling with extended time and enhanced monitoring, optimizing overall productivity without compromising safety
3Measurement precision
If the robotic device uses complex hazard identification algorithms, then the measurement precision of hazards is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hazard identification system dynamically adjusts its complexity based on the situation. The processor uses simple classification for obvious hazards and more complex analysis only when needed, optimizing the balance between identification precision and system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates simplified representations (maps) of the work environment and hazards, working with these copies rather than raw sensor data. This approach maintains high measurement precision while reducing the computational complexity of processing
Data Source
AI summary
A method for covering a work environment by a robot, including: obtaining sensor data indicative of operational hazards; generating a map based on data obtained from sensors of the robot; determining an object type of an operational hazard based on extracted features and a database of various object types and their features; generating a coverage plan for areas of the work environment; executing the coverage plan by the robot; capturing debris sensor data indicative of at least presence and absence of debris in locations within the work environment; determining areas of the work environment with a high presence of debris and a low presence of debris, wherein the map is updated to distinguish the areas with the high presence of debris and the areas with the low presence of debris.