Domestic Robot Reference Trail Navigation for Boundary-Guided Autonomy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Navigation of domestic robots within working areas remains inefficient due to issues with area coverage, ease of setup, and safety, despite advancements in control systems and navigation methods.
Innovation Solution
A domestic robotic system equipped with local environment sensors and data storage to store boundary information, operating in reference trail recording and navigation modes, allowing it to move within a working area by comparing current sensor information with stored reference trail information to determine its position and navigate accurately.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If the robot uses sophisticated control systems to increase independence and reduce supervision, then automation extent improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by recording reference trail information during a setup phase before actual operation. The robot manually traverses the working area boundary once to capture sensor information, which is then stored for automated navigation. This preliminary recording eliminates the need for complex real-time boundary detection algorithms during operation, simplifying the control system while maintaining high automation.
2Ease of operation
If the robot uses manual training to define cleaning paths, then ease of operation improves, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a copy of the reference trail information during manual training and stores it in data storage. Instead of requiring the user to manually guide the robot through each cleaning operation, the stored reference trail is copied and reused for automated navigation. This single manual training session serves multiple operational cycles, minimizing time loss while maintaining ease of operation.
3Measurement precision
If the robot stores and processes large amounts of sensor information, then measurement precision improves, but use of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary processing of sensor information during the reference trail recording phase, storing processed position and environmental data for later use. During actual navigation, the robot retrieves pre-processed reference information rather than processing raw sensor data in real-time. This shifts computational energy consumption to the initial setup phase, enabling high measurement precision during operation with minimal energy use.
Data Source
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AI summary
There is herein described a method for preparing navigation information for a robot having a payload for carrying out a domestic task within a working area comprising receiving sensor information relating to said working area, including one or more arrays of sensor data, each array corresponding to sensor readings at different locations and/or orientations with respect to said working area by one or more similar arrays of like sensors, receiving user-provided information designating a reference trail within said working area, processing said sensor information relating to said working area, including said plurality of arrays of sensor data; and said information from the user designating the reference trail, said processing step producing navigation information for said robot that sufficiently defines said reference trail such that the robot can move along said reference trail substantially autonomously.