Swimming Pool Robot Airbag Buoyancy Control for Fast Surfacing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing swimming pool robots take a long time to switch between sinking and floating due to methods that change their quality through water absorption and drainage, reducing efficiency.

Innovation Solution

A controllable sinking and floating swimming pool robot with a sinking and floating control unit that includes an airbag system, inflation and deflation mechanism, and detection units to monitor positional relationships and operational requirements, allowing for faster and more accurate control of sinking and floating states.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If water absorption and drainage method is used to control sinking and floating, then the robot can change its quality to achieve floating or sinking, but the process takes a long time resulting in decreased working efficiency

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefloating or sinking controlVSAvoidworking efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the physical state of the airbag from deflated to inflated to alter the robot's overall volume and buoyancy. By inflating the airbag, the robot's displacement increases, providing sufficient buoyancy to float on water surface or climb out of the pool, thereby achieving rapid sinking and floating control without the time-consuming water absorption and drainage process

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an airbag system that uses pneumatic pressure to control the robot's floating and sinking states. The airbag can be rapidly inflated with air to increase buoyancy and deflated to decrease buoyancy, enabling fast response for sinking and floating operations and significantly improving working efficiency compared to water-based ballast systems

Inventive Principle:
Principle #29Pneumatics and hydraulics

2Reliability

If water absorption and drainage method is used, then the robot can control its sinking and floating states, but the internal component configuration becomes complex

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesinking and floating controlVSAvoidinternal component configuration
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the water-based ballast system and replaces it with an airbag system. By removing the complex water absorption and drainage mechanisms, the internal component configuration is simplified while maintaining reliable sinking and floating control through the pneumatic airbag system

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the control mechanism from water mass variation to air volume variation in the airbag. This parameter change simplifies the system by eliminating the need for water intake and drainage components, reducing internal complexity while achieving the same functional outcome of controllable buoyancy

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter 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

The solution enables faster sinking and floating speeds and more precise control, ensuring the correct posture of the robot during operations, thereby enhancing efficiency and simplifying internal component configuration.

Implementation Method 1

a sinking and floating control unit configured to control the swimming pool robot to float and sink

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectBuoyancy: Archimedes' Principle (Buoyancy)

Data Source

PatentEP4685314A1Controllable sinking and floating swimming pool robot and method therefor
Publication Date: 2026.01.28 AIPER GLOBAL PTE LTD
  • EP4685314A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4685314A1 patent drawingFigure 2A~2B
  • EP4685314A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The present disclosure relates to the field of underwater robots, and in particular to a controllable sinking and floating swimming pool robot (1) and a sinking and floating control method for a swimming pool robot. The controllable sinking and floating swimming pool robot (1) of the present disclosure includes a sinking and floating control unit (20) configured to control a swimming pool robot to float and sink; a waterline detection unit (30) configured to detect a positional relationship between the swimming pool robot and a waterline of a liquid surface of a swimming pool where the swimming pool robot is located; and a main control unit (10) configured to control a working state of the sinking and floating control unit (20) to enter a floating working state based on detection results to realize a floating of the swimming pool robot (1).