Robot cleaner and a system including the same
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users cannot accurately predict the traveling path of a robot cleaner due to unrecognized obstacles in its cleaning region, as the cleaner adjusts its path based on sensed obstacles but may miss others.
Innovation Solution
A robot cleaner system that includes a display unit, communication unit, and control unit to capture and analyze images of its cleaning region using a mobile terminal, predict its estimated traveling path, and generate an augmented reality (AR) image to display this path, considering both recognized and unrecognized obstacles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robot cleaner autonomously travels and cleans along a predetermined path, then cleaning efficiency is improved, but the user cannot accurately predict the traveling path due to unrecognized obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile terminal as an intermediary device that captures images of the cleaning region and transmits them to the robot cleaner. This intermediary system enables the robot to access visual information beyond its own sensors, allowing it to predict and display its traveling path accurately while maintaining autonomous cleaning efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the robot cleaner receives image data from the mobile terminal, processes it to predict its future traveling path, and displays this predicted path to the user. This feedback loop provides the user with visibility into the robot's intended movements, resolving the information asymmetry while the robot continues its autonomous cleaning operations
2Reliability
If the robot cleaner changes traveling path when obstacles are sensed, then obstacle avoidance is improved, but obstacles not recognized by the robot cleaner remain undetected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the obstacle detection system universal by combining multiple detection approaches: the robot cleaner's own sensors and the mobile terminal's camera. This multi-functional detection system covers both recognized obstacles (detected by robot sensors) and unrecognized obstacles (visible in camera images), comprehensively improving obstacle detection completeness while maintaining reliable avoidance behavior
3Loss of information
If augmented reality image is generated and displayed to show estimated traveling path, then user awareness of cleaning route is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the mobile terminal as an intermediary to handle the complex AR image generation and display tasks. Instead of requiring the robot cleaner itself to have advanced graphics processing and display capabilities, the mobile terminal serves as the interface that receives the predicted path data and presents it through AR visualization, thereby improving path information visibility without significantly increasing the robot's device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A robot cleaner includes a camera, a display unit configured to display a cleaning region projected by the camera, a communication unit configured to perform communication with a mobile terminal to receive an image including the cleaning region captured by the mobile terminal, and a control unit configured to search a cleaning region based on a traveling path of the robot cleaner, to predict an estimated traveling path of the robot cleaner based on the cleaning region and the image including the cleaning region, to generate an augmented reality (AR) image of the estimated traveling path, and to display the AR image to be superimposed on the image including the cleaning region.