Cleaning Robot Mapping for Automatic Smart Home Device Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face inconvenience in manually inputting information about the internal structure and devices in their home for smart home monitoring systems, which limits the automation and energy-saving capabilities of these systems.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning robot equipped with imaging and communication units generates a map of the home, recognizes electric devices, and transmits this information to a home monitoring apparatus, allowing for automated device control and energy management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a home monitoring apparatus is installed to monitor home structure and devices, then monitoring and control functions are improved, but manual input of home information and device information creates user inconvenience
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning robot autonomously performs map generation and device recognition without requiring user intervention. It automatically captures images, processes them to identify electric devices, generates home maps, and transmits this information to the home monitoring apparatus, enabling the system to serve itself by eliminating manual information input
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning robot performs map generation and device recognition in advance before the home monitoring apparatus needs this information. By completing these tasks proactively during its cleaning operations, the robot ensures that home structure and device location data are ready for automated control functions without requiring subsequent manual input from users
2Extent of automation
If the cleaning robot generates and transmits home maps with device information, then automated control capability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning robot is designed to perform multiple functions: it simultaneously executes cleaning tasks and performs map generation with device recognition. By integrating these diverse functions into a single device, the system avoids adding separate dedicated devices for mapping and device detection, thereby managing complexity while enhancing automated home monitoring capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the map generation function and device recognition capability into the existing cleaning robot system. Instead of creating separate systems for cleaning, mapping, and device detection, these functions are merged into one integrated platform that leverages the robot's movement and imaging capabilities to achieve multiple objectives
Data Source
AI summary
A cleaning robot is provided. The cleaning robot includes a main body, a moving assembly to move the main body around a home, an imaging unit to obtain images around the main body, a controller to generate a map of the home using the obtained images, and a communication unit to transmit the generated map to a home monitoring apparatus. A procedure to match location and type information of electric devices to a two-Dimensional (2D) or three-Dimensional (3D) map of the home may be automated. As described above, the map of the home may be realistically generated by utilizing a map generated by the cleaning robot and inconvenience experienced by a user to manually register electric devices located in each room of the home may be solved by automatically registering the electric devices.