Subregion Path Planning for Automatic Mowers With Fewer Lawn Marks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automatic gardening devices, such as automatic mowers, often leave visible marks and affect lawn growth due to repetitive mowing directions, leading to reduced efficiency and lawn vitality.
Innovation Solution
A method for path planning that divides the work region into subregions, determines actual and recommended directions for each subregion to minimize path length and duration, and combines local paths to create a global planned path, optimizing the mowing sequence to reduce turns and preserve lawn health.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the automatic mower repeatedly mows in the same direction based on a preset travel direction, then the path planning is simple and easy to implement, but visible pressed marks are left on the lawn and lawn growth is affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically adjusts the travel direction for each subregion based on the global planned path, rather than using a fixed preset direction throughout. The controller determines actual travel directions that may differ from the preset direction to optimize the overall path and reduce repeated mowing in the same direction, thereby minimizing lawn damage while maintaining reasonable planning complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The work region is divided into multiple subregions, and the global planned path is constructed by sequencing these subregions. This segmentation allows the system to vary travel directions across different subregions rather than maintaining a single preset direction, reducing pressed marks on the lawn while keeping the overall path planning manageable.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the user specifies a preset travel direction to avoid prolonged mowing in a single direction, then lawn health is improved, but many short path segments are created resulting in many turns and reduced mowing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from considering only local direction constraints to optimizing the global path by sequencing subregions. This dimensional shift allows the system to reduce the total number of turns by strategically ordering subregion traversal, thereby improving mowing efficiency while still varying directions to protect lawn health.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-divides the work region into subregions and pre-determines the global planned path sequence before actual mowing begins. This preliminary path planning optimizes the overall route to minimize turns and travel distance, improving efficiency while the actual travel directions within each subregion are adjusted to protect lawn health.
3Device complexity
If the automatic mower follows a fixed preset travel direction throughout the work region, then the control system is simple, but the mowing path is inefficient with excessive turns and longer travel time
Solution Approach 1:
The work region is segmented into multiple subregions with predetermined traversal sequences. This segmentation enables the controller to plan a global path that minimizes turns and travel time, reducing mowing time significantly compared to fixed-direction approaches, while the control complexity remains manageable through systematic subregion sequencing.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A
Figure 2B~2D
AI summary
A method for path planning for an automatic gardening device, the method including: receiving a preset travel direction in a work region; dividing the work region into a plurality of subregions; determining, for each of the subregions, an actual planned direction in the subregion from the preset travel direction and a recommended planned direction in the subregion, and determining a local planned path corresponding to the subregion based on the actual planned direction, where a path of traversing the subregion along the recommended planned direction has a shortest length, or a travel duration of traversing the subregion along the recommended planned direction is shortest; acquiring a moving sequence between the subregions; determining a global planned path of the work region based on the local planned path of each of the subregions and the moving sequence between the subregions.