Autonomous Robot Behavior Zones With Map-Based Placement Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous mobile robots lack intuitive and accurate methods for users to define and manage behavior control zones, leading to inefficiencies and inaccuracies in cleaning operations, especially when dealing with multiple robots and dynamic environments.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows users to create and manage behavior control zones using a mobile device, with features like interactive maps, contextual indicators, and automatic updates, enabling robots to confirm zone placement and adjust behaviors based on zone proximity, type, and movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users manually define behavior control zones by interacting with mobile application interfaces, then the ease of operation is improved, but the measurement precision and accuracy of zone placement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a virtual copy of the physical environment through mapping data and graphical representations. Users interact with this accurate digital replica to define behavior control zones, ensuring precise placement that directly corresponds to the physical space without manual measurement errors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical interaction (dragging, resizing zones on screens) with automated system-based placement. The robot autonomously navigates to and identifies zone locations, substituting user manual operations with automated robotic execution that achieves higher precision.
2Device complexity
If behavior control zones are established without confirmation steps, then the device complexity is reduced, but the reliability of zone placement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a confirmation mechanism where the robot autonomously navigates to the defined behavior control zone and provides feedback by executing a confirmation maneuver (such as circling or pausing). Users can verify the robot's location matches their intent through mobile device interface, ensuring reliable zone placement before full operation begins.
Solution Approach 2:
The confirmation maneuver is performed as a preliminary action before the robot begins its actual cleaning or operational tasks. This preliminary verification step ensures the behavior control zone is correctly established and understood by the robot before committing to full operational sequences.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system supports differential control for multiple robots, then the adaptability improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the fleet management into individual robot instances, each with its own controller that independently processes behavior control zone data. This segmentation allows each robot to be controlled differently based on user preferences while maintaining a unified system architecture that manages multiple units through standardized interfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous mobile robot includes a drive system to support the robot above a surface, a sensor system configured to generate a signal indicative of a location of the robot on the surface, and a controller operably connected to the drive system and the sensor system. The drive system is operable to navigate the robot about the surface. The controller is configured to execute instructions to perform operations including establishing a behavior control zone on the surface, controlling the drive system, in response to establishing the behavior control zone on the surface, to maneuver the robot to a location of the behavior control zone on the surface, and maneuvering, using the drive system, the robot about the surface and initiating a behavior in response to determining, based on the signal indicative of the location of the robot, that the robot is proximate the behavior control zone.