Robotic cleaner
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic cleaners lack effective methods for user-friendly, precise control and navigation within environments, particularly in conjunction with mobile devices, limiting their ability to accurately respond to user commands and adapt to environmental features.
Innovation Solution
A robotic cleaner system that integrates with a mobile device, allowing the mobile device to generate augmented reality elements on its display to facilitate user interaction and precise command input, using sensors to localize both devices and enhance navigation and control through bi-directional communication and map integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If robotic cleaners use traditional navigation methods, then the device complexity is reduced, but the measurement precision of position and orientation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) as an intermediary between the user and the robotic cleaner. This mobile device runs an application that communicates with the cleaner via wireless connection, providing augmented reality interface and precise positioning capabilities without requiring these complex features to be built into the cleaner itself. The mobile device acts as a mediator that enhances measurement precision through its sensors and display while keeping the cleaner's device complexity manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs augmented reality technology that overlays virtual elements onto the real-world camera view, adding a digital dimension to the physical environment. This allows the system to display position information, navigation cues, and environmental features in three-dimensional spatial context rather than traditional two-dimensional screens, improving position and orientation accuracy by leveraging spatial awareness and visual depth perception.
2Ease of operation
If robotic cleaners integrate with mobile devices for enhanced control, then the ease of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device application automatically performs tasks such as environmental mapping, position calculation, and navigation route generation without requiring manual user input for each function. The system self-configures the communication connection between the mobile device and cleaner, automatically processes sensor data to determine position and orientation, and dynamically updates the augmented reality display based on the cleaner's movement, thereby improving ease of operation while managing complexity through automation.
3Loss of information
If robotic cleaners use augmented reality interface, then the ease of operation is improved, but the loss of information is reduced through better spatial context
Solution Approach 1:
The augmented reality interface utilizes color coding to convey different types of information efficiently. Virtual elements such as navigation paths, obstacles, cleaning zones, and position markers are displayed in distinct colors that provide immediate visual differentiation. This color-based information encoding reduces the loss of spatial context by allowing users to quickly comprehend environmental features and cleaner status without requiring detailed textual or numerical data, thereby maintaining information completeness while keeping the interface relatively simple.
Data Source
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AI summary
A robotic cleaning system may include a robotic cleaner configured to generate a map of an environment and a mobile device configured to communicatively couple to the robotic cleaner, the robotic cleaner configured to communicate the map to the mobile device. The mobile device may include a camera configured to generate an image of the environment, the image comprising a plurality of pixels, a display configured to display the image and to receive a user input while displaying the image, the user input being associated with one or more of the plurality of pixels, a depth sensor configured to generate depth data that is associated with each pixel of the image, an orientation sensor configured to generate orientation data that is associated with each pixel of the image, and a mobile controller configured to localize the mobile device within the map using the depth data and the orientation data.