Cleaning Robot Stuck Detection Using Rotation and Reverse Escape
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cleaning robots often get stuck in confined spaces due to their size being larger than the required rotation space, leading to failure in escaping from obstacles, which affects their traveling performance and cleaning efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning robot with a non-circular main body and sensors to detect obstacles, capable of rotating by a predetermined angle and performing backward movement to escape from stuck states, utilizing detectors on multiple surfaces to determine the stuck state and control movement accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the cleaning robot uses a non-circular main body shape, then the robot can rotate by a predetermined angle to determine stuck state, but the robot may get stuck in confined spaces due to size being larger than rotation space
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of attempting to rotate forward to escape, the patent applies inversion by making the robot perform backward movement to escape from stuck states. The controller controls the moving assembly to move the main body backward in a direction opposite to the traveling direction when a stuck state is detected, allowing the robot to escape confined spaces where forward rotation would fail.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the cleaning robot performs basic bypass operation to avoid obstacles, then the robot can navigate around obstacles, but the main body fails to move when lodged in a confined space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by using detectors on the front and side surfaces to continuously monitor the robot's environment and determine whether the main body is in a stuck state. The controller receives detection signals from these sensors and adjusts the movement strategy accordingly - performing backward movement when stuck state is detected, thereby adapting to confined spaces where standard bypass operations fail.
3Measurement precision
If the cleaning robot uses detectors on front and side surfaces to detect obstacles, then the robot can determine stuck state accurately, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies multi-functionality by using the same detectors on the front and side surfaces for multiple purposes: obstacle detection during normal navigation and stuck state determination in confined spaces. This universal use of existing sensors avoids adding separate specialized sensors, thereby achieving accurate stuck state detection without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A cleaning robot includes a non-circular main body, a moving assembly mounted on a bottom surface of the main body to perform forward movement, backward movement and rotation of the main body, a cleaning tool assembly mounted on the bottom surface of the main body to clean a floor, a detector to detect an obstacle around the main body, and a controller to determine whether an obstacle is present in a forward direction of the main body based on a detection signal of the detector, control the rotation of the main body to determine whether the main body rotates by a predetermined angle or more upon determining that the obstacle is present in the forward direction, and determine that the main body is in a stuck state to control the backward movement of the main body if the main body rotates by the predetermined angle or less.