Autonomous Robot Path Planning With Safety-Distance Edge Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous traveling robots, such as UVC sterilizing robots, face efficiency issues due to the fixed direction of ultraviolet lamp irradiation, leading to reduced sterilizing efficiency at varying distances and potential collisions with the target.
Innovation Solution
A path planning method that determines a traveling path at a safety distance from the edge of the target area, using sensors and processors to control the robot's movement, ensuring efficient navigation and preventing collisions while maintaining sterilizing efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robot moves closer to the sterilizing target to improve sterilizing efficiency, then the sterilizing efficiency is improved, but the robot may collide with the sterilizing target
Solution Approach 1:
A virtual safety boundary is introduced as an intermediary between the robot and the sterilizing target. The path planning system uses this virtual boundary to mediate the robot's movement, allowing the robot to operate close to the target for high sterilizing efficiency while preventing direct contact through the protective barrier of the safety distance constraint.
2Reliability
If the robot maintains a fixed distance from the sterilizing target to avoid collision, then collision is prevented, but the sterilizing efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The robot's operating distance is made dynamic rather than fixed. The path planning system adjusts the robot's distance from the sterilizing target dynamically along the planned trajectory, allowing the robot to maintain an optimal balance between collision avoidance and sterilizing efficiency at different positions along the path.
3Device complexity
If the ultraviolet lamp tube irradiates toward a fixed direction to simplify mechanism design, then the mechanism design is simplified, but the operating efficiency is reduced when the robot needs to face different directions
Solution Approach 1:
The solution moves the directional adjustment capability from the robot's mechanical orientation to the path planning dimension. Instead of rotating the robot body to change irradiation direction, the system plans multiple paths with different orientations, allowing the fixed-direction lamp to cover different areas by changing the approach direction along the planned path.
Data Source
AI summary
A path planning method and an autonomous traveling robot are provided. In the path planning method, a target area is obtained. A traveling path is decided by a safety distance. The traveling path is at least at the safety distance from an edge of the target area. The autonomous traveling robot is controlled to move by the traveling path. Accordingly, the operation efficiency can be improved.