Cleaning Robot Floor Imaging for Off-Path Dust Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cleaning robots cannot detect dust accumulated outside their moving track unless it is swept up, limiting their ability to recognize and clean dust in areas adjacent to their path.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning robot equipped with a floor image obtaining unit and a control unit that uses algorithms like the watershed and edge extracting algorithms to detect foreign substances on the floor, allowing it to move and clean dust detected outside its original path.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the cleaning robot uses a conventional dust detecting device to detect dust, then the device structure is simple, but the robot cannot detect dust accumulated outside its moving track
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional mechanical dust detecting device with an optical imaging system (camera) combined with image processing algorithms. The floor image obtaining unit captures images of the cleaning space, and the control unit processes these images to detect foreign substances, substituting mechanical detection with optical and computational methods to achieve broader detection coverage without physical contact
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an image processing system as an intermediary between the camera and the cleaning robot's navigation system. The control unit acts as a mediator that processes floor images, extracts features using algorithms like watershed and edge detection, identifies foreign substances, and converts this visual information into navigation commands, enabling the robot to detect and respond to dust outside its moving track
2Productivity
If the cleaning robot moves along a fixed moving track, then the cleaning path is predictable and easy to control, but the robot cannot clean dust accumulated adjacent to the moving track
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the robot's navigation from a static fixed track to a dynamic adaptive path. The control unit continuously processes floor images, detects foreign substances, and adjusts the moving track in real-time based on detected dust locations. This allows the robot to deviate from the original moving track and navigate to areas with accumulated dust, significantly improving cleaning coverage while maintaining controllable navigation through algorithmic path adjustment
3Measurement precision
If the cleaning robot detects dust only after sweeping, then the detection process is simple, but the robot must move to a particular area to detect dust
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary dust detection by capturing floor images during the robot's movement along the cleaning path, before the actual cleaning operation. The control unit processes these images in advance to identify foreign substances and their locations, allowing the robot to detect dust accumulation patterns ahead of time and adjust its navigation accordingly, reducing the time needed to locate and clean dust areas
Data Source
AI summary
A cleaning robot may have a body, a moving unit provided on the body to move the body in a cleaning space, a cleaning unit provided on the body to clean a floor of the cleaning space, a floor image obtaining unit configured to obtain a floor image of the cleaning space, and a control unit configured to determine if foreign substance is present on the floor of the cleaning space based on the floor image, and control the moving unit to move the body to a position of the foreign substance, in which the cleaning robot, by obtaining an image of a floor to be cleaned, detects the foreign substance that is not positioned on a moving track of the cleaning robot, and when the foreign substance is detected, moves to the position of the foreign substance to perform a cleaning.