RFID Tag Dwell Time Control for Robotic Floor Cleaners
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous robotic floor cleaners lack the ability to automatically adjust their dwell time in response to temporary conditions such as heavily soiled or clean areas, which limits their cleaning performance.
Innovation Solution
The use of RFID tags positioned along or adjacent to the floor surface to interact with a robotic floor treater's controller, allowing for adjustments in dwell time based on received signals, enabling the robot to spend more or less time in specific areas as needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the robot uses a pre-set navigational path with sensors to detect obstacles, then the robot can avoid obstacles and follow the path, but the robot cannot automatically adjust dwell time in response to temporary conditions such as heavily soiled or clean areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces RFID tags as intermediary devices placed on the floor to communicate cleaning condition information to the robot. These tags serve as mediators between the static floor surface and the mobile robot, enabling the robot to receive instructions about dwell time adjustments without requiring complex image recognition or sensor analysis systems. The RFID tags encode cleaning parameters (e.g., extended dwell time for soiled areas, reduced dwell time for clean areas) that the robot's RFID reader detects and executes.
2Reliability
If the robot spends more time in heavily soiled areas, then cleaning performance improves, but the overall cleaning efficiency decreases due to increased time consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing spatially varying dwell time requirements through RFID tags placed at specific locations. Different areas of the floor are marked with RFID tags that encode different cleaning parameters: heavily soiled areas have tags indicating extended dwell time, clean areas have tags indicating reduced or skipped cleaning, and normal areas have standard dwell time tags. This allows the robot to adapt its cleaning effort locally to match actual conditions, ensuring thorough cleaning where needed while maintaining efficiency in already clean areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs preliminary action by pre-marking the floor with RFID tags that contain predetermined cleaning instructions before the robot begins operation. The tags are placed in advance to indicate areas requiring extended cleaning (heavily soiled), reduced cleaning (already clean), or avoidance (obstacles). This pre-prepared information allows the robot to execute optimized cleaning paths without real-time decision-making delays, improving both cleaning performance and efficiency.
3Reliability
If the robot uses RFID tags to mark areas for extended cleaning, then cleaning performance in soiled areas improves, but the device complexity increases due to additional RFID components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes inexpensive RFID tags that can be easily placed and removed from the floor surface. These tags are simple, low-cost components that do not require complex integration into the robot's structure. The tags can be temporarily positioned in heavily soiled areas for extended cleaning and then removed or relocated as conditions change, providing a flexible and economical solution for targeted cleaning enhancement without significant investment in permanent system modifications.
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
This solution allows for optimized cleaning performance by enabling the robot to spend more time in soiled areas and less time in clean areas, improving efficiency and preventing damage in sensitive regions, while also providing a method for obstacle avoidance and room confinement.
Implementation Method 1
Each RFID tag is capable of conveying at least one unique radio frequency signal to a remote reader in response to electromagnetic excitation fields emitted by a remote interrogator
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are navigational systems for automated robotic floor cleaners. RFID passive tags are positioned at specified areas of a floor to be treated so as to increase or decrease dwell time of the cleaning device adjacent the tags. An RFID interrogator on the robot learns from each tag its nature, and based thereon instructs the device to change the dwell time over specified areas. This permits areas of a carpet or other surface requiring extra or less treatment to be cleaned in an optimal manner.