Autonomous Robot Virtual Perimeter Mapping for Area Confinement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous robots for tasks like lawn mowing face challenges in defining bounded areas without physically defined perimeters, leading to inefficient coverage and potential safety issues due to failures in confinement systems.
Innovation Solution
An autonomous robot system that uses a user-controlled method to map and define a confined area by recording a starting point and tracking movements with a distance-traveled measuring mechanism and directional indicating instrument, allowing it to operate within a designated perimeter without physical barriers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a physically defined perimeter (perimeter wire, reflectors, beacons, or structural barriers) is used to confine the autonomous robot, then the robot can maintain confinement within the designated area, but the system complexity and installation effort increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the physical perimeter components (wires, reflectors, beacons) from the confinement system and replaces them with a virtual perimeter defined by coordinate data stored in memory. The robot uses its own position tracking capabilities to maintain confinement without external physical markers, thereby eliminating the complex physical infrastructure while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical perimeter system with an electronic/software-based virtual perimeter system. Instead of using physical barriers and electromagnetic signals from external components, the robot uses internal position tracking and coordinate-based boundary definition to achieve confinement, substituting mechanical systems with electronic control.
2Reliability
If a physically defined perimeter is installed around the designated area, then the robot can be confined within the area, but the ease of use and installation are significantly reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the need for physical perimeter installation entirely. The confinement boundaries are defined by storing coordinate information in the robot's memory, eliminating the need for users to install perimeter wires, reflectors, or other physical components around the designated area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the perimeter boundary in the form of coordinate data stored in memory. Instead of physically reproducing the boundary with wires and barriers, the system uses digital representation of the boundary coordinates to define the confinement area, making setup trivial.
3Ease of operation
If the autonomous robot operates randomly within a confined area, then the robot can perform tasks without complex navigation, but the coverage efficiency and task completion rate decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary mapping of the designated area by storing coordinate information of the perimeter boundaries in memory before task execution. This pre-established virtual perimeter enables the robot to plan and execute efficient navigation paths rather than operating randomly, improving coverage efficiency while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of establishing an area of confinement and an autonomous robot for performing a task within the area of confinement. In one aspect, the invention can be a method of defining an area of confinement comprising: positioning the autonomous robot at a starting point P0 and recording the starting point P0 as a reference point within a memory device; moving the autonomous robot from the starting point P0 about a perimeter of the area of confinement, wherein said movement of the autonomous robot is controlled by a user; continuously tracking location of the autonomous robot relative to the reference point P0 during said movement using a distance-traveled measuring mechanism and a directional indicating instrument; recording the tracked location as a map in the memory device; and upon detecting that the map includes a closed-geometry, defining the closed-geometry as the perimeter of the area of confinement within the memory device.