Mobile Robot Virtual Barriers for Restricted Area Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile robots lack the ability to restrict their movement to specific areas without physical barriers, posing a risk of unintended movement into restricted regions.
Innovation Solution
Mobile robots are equipped with sensors and controllers to generate virtual barriers based on orientation and location, using occupancy grids and markers to define non-traversable areas, allowing them to navigate and operate within designated boundaries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If physical barriers are erected to restrict robot movement, then the robot can be prevented from entering restricted regions, but the device complexity and installation requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of a physical barrier by using markers and sensor detection. Instead of installing actual physical barriers, the system places detectable markers in the environment that replicate the barrier function through virtual representation in the robot's occupancy grid, allowing the robot to recognize and avoid restricted areas without physical obstruction
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical barrier system with a sensor-based detection and control system. The robot uses sensors to detect markers, processes this information through a controller to update its occupancy grid, and makes navigation decisions based on this virtual representation, substituting mechanical barriers with an information-processing approach
2Device complexity
If virtual barriers are generated using sensors and controllers, then the device complexity is reduced, but the measurement precision and detection accuracy become critical challenges
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces markers as intermediary objects that facilitate communication between the physical environment and the robot's virtual representation. These markers serve as detectable intermediaries that carry information about restricted areas, enabling the robot to accurately perceive barrier locations without requiring complex direct sensing of the environment
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms spatial and orientation information into standardized grid parameters that the robot can process. By converting real-world coordinates and orientations into occupancy grid cell values and barrier representations, the system enables precise detection and interpretation of marker positions and orientations through parameter transformation
3Ease of operation
If the robot uses occupancy grids to represent the environment, then navigation control is improved, but the loss of information about real-world coordinates may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a virtual dimension to the robot's perception by creating an occupancy grid representation that overlays the physical environment. This virtual grid dimension allows the robot to process navigation information in a simplified coordinate system while maintaining the ability to map back to real-world positions through the marker detection system
Data Source
AI summary
A robot includes a body that is movable relative to a surface one or more measurement devices within the body to output information based on an orientation of the body at an initial location on the surface, and a controller within the body to determine an orientation of the body based on the information and to restrict movement of the body to an area by preventing movement of the body beyond a barrier that is based on the orientation of the body and the initial location.