Robot Cleaner Position Recovery After Forced Cleaning Stops
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Robot cleaners face difficulties in recognizing their position after a forced stop due to mechanical issues or user intervention, leading to repeated cleaning operations on already cleaned regions or starting from an arbitrary position.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating an absolute position recognition unit using a detection unit to compare structure or image information before and after a cleaning operation is restarted, with a control unit that initiates cleaning based on recognized positions and similarity calculations to distinguish cleaned and non-cleaned regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a relative position recognition sensor is used to track cleaning progress, then the robot can operate autonomously during normal cleaning, but the robot cannot recognize its position after being forcibly stopped and restarted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an absolute position recognition sensor as an intermediary device that works alongside the relative position recognition sensor. This absolute sensor serves as a mediator that can independently determine the robot's position based on environmental features, breaking the dependency on continuous relative position tracking and enabling position recognition after forced stops.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by continuously acquiring and storing environmental map information through the detection unit during normal operation. This pre-acquired environmental data is stored and can be used later for position recognition when the robot is restarted after a forced stop, eliminating the need for continuous relative position tracking.
2Measurement precision
If the robot continuously tracks position using relative movement data, then cleaning progress can be monitored, but position accuracy deteriorates after mechanical issues or user intervention cause forced stops
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical relative position tracking system with an optical/environmental recognition system. Instead of relying on mechanical wheel encoders and inertial integration that accumulate errors after stops, the system uses an absolute position recognition sensor to detect environmental features and determine position absolutely, substituting mechanical tracking with environmental sensing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a copy of the environmental map through the detection unit and stores it in the storage unit. This environmental map copy serves as a reference for position recognition, allowing the robot to determine its position by comparing current sensor data with the stored environmental representation, rather than relying on accumulated relative position data.
3Productivity
If the robot re-starts cleaning from an arbitrary position after forced stop, then operation can resume, but repeated cleaning of already cleaned regions occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by continuously comparing the robot's current position (determined by the absolute position recognition sensor) with the cleaning map stored in the storage unit. This feedback mechanism allows the control unit to identify which regions have already been cleaned and adjust the cleaning path accordingly, preventing repeated cleaning of the same areas and enabling intelligent resumption of cleaning operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are a robot cleaner and a method for controlling the same. The robot cleaner may prevent repeated executions of a cleaning operation by recognizing its position through an absolute position recognition unit, in a case that the cleaning operation is performed again after being forcibly stopped due to arbitrary causes. And, the robot cleaner may solve a position recognition error by a relative position recognition unit with using an image detection unit, and may effectively perform a cleaning operation based on a similarity between an image detected by the image detection unit and an image with respect to a cleaning region. This may improve the system efficiency and stability, and enhance a user's convenience.