Coordinated Robot Cleaners for Narrow-Space Dust Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional self-traveling cleaners are inefficient in cleaning narrow spaces due to their size requirements, which compromise both cleaning capability and battery life, leading to incomplete cleaning and frequent recharging.
Innovation Solution
A system of self-traveling cleaners with a traveling unit, dust detector, collector, and communication unit, coordinated by a controlling apparatus, allows multiple cleaners to share dust detection and cleaning responsibilities, enabling efficient dust removal in narrow spaces by prioritizing dustier areas and switching cleaners when containers fill up.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a self-traveling cleaner is made large to improve cleaning capability, then it can clean more area, but it cannot enter narrow spaces and has reduced adaptability
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning system is divided into multiple independent self-traveling cleaners of different sizes. Small cleaners are specifically designed to enter and clean narrow spaces between furniture and walls, while larger cleaners handle open areas. This segmentation allows each unit to be optimized for its specific size category, resolving the contradiction between cleaner size and ability to access narrow spaces.
2Quantity of substance
If a self-traveling cleaner is made large to improve cleaning capability, then it can carry larger dust container, but it increases device complexity and energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The dust collection function is segmented across multiple cleaners with appropriately sized containers for their respective roles. Small cleaners have smaller containers suitable for narrow space cleaning, while larger cleaners have larger containers for open areas. This eliminates the need for all cleaners to be large-sized, reducing device complexity while maintaining adequate dust collection capacity across the system.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple cleaners with smaller dust containers work together as a coordinated system, collectively achieving the same total dust collection capacity as a single large cleaner would provide. This merging approach allows each unit to remain compact and simple while the system as a whole handles substantial dust volumes.
3Productivity
If multiple self-traveling cleaners are deployed to improve cleaning efficiency, then dust removal capability increases, but coordination complexity and communication requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
All self-traveling cleaners in the system use the same communication protocol and data structure formats, making them universally compatible for coordination. Each cleaner can serve multiple functions: cleaning its own detected dust, receiving and executing reassignment tasks from the server, and potentially relaying information to other cleaners. This multi-functionality and universal compatibility simplify system coordination despite having multiple units.
Solution Approach 2:
A central server acts as an intermediary that receives dust location information from all cleaners, processes the data, and distributes optimized cleaning assignments. This intermediary approach centralizes the coordination complexity in one location, allowing individual cleaners to remain relatively simple devices that only need to communicate basic status information and receive straightforward navigation instructions.
Data Source
AI summary
An automatic cleaning system is configured by a single controlling apparatus, and a plurality of self-traveling cleaners. When the controlling apparatus has received from a self-traveling cleaner a dust location signal containing a dust location detected by the self-traveling cleaner, it writes the received information into a storage unit. When the controlling apparatus has received from one of the plurality of self-traveling cleaners, with respect to dust which is not removed by any self-traveling cleaner, a signal requesting a reservation of removing the dust, the controlling apparatus will not accept from any other of the plurality of self-traveling cleaners a signal requesting a reservation of removing the dust, until receiving from the one self-traveling cleaner information indicating that removing of the dust has been completed or information indicating that the removing of the dust has been stopped.