Domestic Robot Boundary Navigation With Reference Trail Mapping
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current domestic robotic systems face challenges in efficient area coverage and navigation within working areas, particularly in home environments, due to issues with setup complexity and accuracy, safety, and gaps in coverage.
Innovation Solution
A domestic robotic system equipped with local environment sensors and data storage to record and navigate using a reference trail, allowing for perimeter and internal area coverage modes, and employing multiple positioning systems to ensure accurate boundary detection and navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If the robot uses sophisticated control systems for autonomous navigation, then the independence of the machine is increased, but the setup complexity and instruction requirements increase for average consumers
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically creating a reference trail during the first navigation run. The robot records boundary information and environmental features along its initial path, storing this data for future reference. This preliminary mapping eliminates the need for complex manual setup procedures, allowing average consumers to simply guide the robot through the area once, after which autonomous navigation becomes straightforward.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a simplified copy of the physical environment in the form of a reference trail - a digital representation stored in memory that captures boundary locations and environmental features. This copied information is then used by the navigation system to guide the robot without requiring complex real-time processing or sophisticated sensor systems during operation, thereby reducing setup complexity while maintaining automation.
2Productivity
If the robot follows the boundary closely for complete area coverage, then coverage efficiency is improved, but safety risks increase due to potential collisions with boundary objects
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from two-dimensional boundary following to three-dimensional spatial awareness by recording not just boundary locations but also environmental features and obstacles at various heights and distances. The reference trail captures spatial relationships in multiple dimensions, allowing the robot to navigate close to boundaries while maintaining safety margins by detecting obstacles in the vertical and lateral dimensions before collisions occur.
Solution Approach 2:
During the reference trail recording phase, the system performs preliminary detection and mapping of boundary objects and potential hazards. This advance information about the environment is stored in the reference trail, enabling the robot to plan safe navigation paths that maintain optimal proximity to boundaries while avoiding identified obstacles, thus resolving the contradiction between coverage efficiency and safety.
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If the robot uses traditional boundary detection sensors, then boundary detection capability is provided, but navigation accuracy and coverage completeness are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple detection approaches by combining traditional boundary sensors with camera-based visual recognition and GPS location data. The reference trail integrates information from these different sources, creating a composite navigation model that leverages the strengths of each sensor type. This merged approach provides both the simplicity of traditional boundary detection and the precision of advanced positioning systems, achieving high navigation accuracy without requiring any single complex sensor system.
Data Source
AI summary
A domestic robotic system includes a robot and data storage operable to store data defining a boundary of a working area, the robot includes a payload actuable to perform work on a portion of the working area adjacent the robot, at least one processor, a first positioning system, one or more sensors operable to sense directly the boundary of the working area and a current distance of the robot thereto, a second positioning system, which uses data from the sensors. The processor is programmed to operate in (i) an area coverage mode, wherein the processor, using the first positioning system and the stored data defining the boundary of the working area, navigates the robot around the working area, with the payload active, and (ii) a boundary proximity mode, wherein the processor, using the second positioning system, navigates the robot around the working area, in proximity to the boundary.