Autonomous Mobile Robot Local Region Selection for Adaptive Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous mobile robots require user intervention to navigate and direct them to specific locations within their employment area for task execution, lacking the ability to autonomously adapt to varying environments and task requirements.
Innovation Solution
The method involves positioning the robot at a start position, detecting environmental information using sensors, selecting a region of a specific geometric shape, and automatically determining its size and orientation based on detected parameters, allowing the robot to adapt its cleaning path and area dynamically in response to dirt distribution and environmental conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the robot requires user intervention to navigate to specific locations, then the robot can execute tasks at user-specified areas, but the user convenience and operational efficiency deteriorate due to manual positioning requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The robot autonomously navigates to target areas using sensor-based environmental detection and automatic path planning, eliminating the need for user positioning. The system detects environmental features, calculates optimal paths, and executes navigation independently, allowing users to simply issue high-level task commands rather than manually position the robot.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical positioning with automated sensor-based navigation. Sensors detect environmental information, the processor calculates navigation paths, and the drive unit autonomously moves the robot to target locations, substituting the mechanical user-robot positioning interaction with an automated sensing-computation-actuation system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the robot uses a fixed cleaning path, then the device complexity is reduced, but the adaptability to varying dirt distribution and environmental conditions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning path transitions from a fixed static pattern to a dynamic adaptive trajectory. The robot continuously detects environmental information during cleaning, processes the data to identify dirt distribution patterns, and automatically adjusts the cleaning path in real-time to optimize coverage of dirty areas while avoiding already-clean zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback-based path adjustment where sensors continuously monitor environmental conditions and cleaning progress, the processor analyzes this feedback information to determine dirt distribution, and the navigation system modifies the cleaning path accordingly. This closed-loop control enables adaptive path planning that responds to actual environmental conditions.
3Productivity
If the robot cleans the entire area of employment, then complete coverage is achieved, but the productivity for localized cleaning tasks deteriorates due to unnecessary traversal of already-clean areas
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning system transitions from uniform area-wide processing to localized targeted cleaning. Sensors detect dirt distribution and identify specific areas requiring attention, and the robot concentrates cleaning efforts on these localized dirty zones rather than uniformly cleaning the entire employment area, improving efficiency by avoiding redundant cleaning of already-clean regions.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of performing complete area coverage cleaning, the system applies partial action by cleaning only the necessary portions of the area that contain dirt. The robot uses sensor detection to identify dirty regions and limits cleaning operations to these specific zones, avoiding excessive cleaning action in already-clean areas and thereby improving productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for controlling an autonomous mobile robot for carrying out a task in a local region of an area of application of the robot. According to one embodiment, the method comprises the following steps: positioning the robot in starting position within the area of application of the robot; detecting information relating to the surroundings of the robot by means of at least one sensor; selecting a region with a determined geometric basic shape; and automatically determining, based on the detected information relating to the surroundings, at least one of the two following parameters: size and position (also including the orientation/alignment) of the selected region.