JP4181477B2 - Self-propelled vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a self-propelled cleaner that can automatically run and clean indoors.

  Conventionally, a self-propelled cleaner that travels in conformity with a traveling environment has been used to clean a factory. Since this self-propelled cleaner has a predetermined space to be cleaned, it is only necessary to travel along a certain route every time. For example, landmarks that are geographical signs in the factory have been arranged in advance along the travel route, or the travel route itself has been laid as a guideline for cleaner guidance. However, it is desirable for the self-propelled cleaner to travel by recognizing a completely unknown traveling space in which no landmarks or guidelines are installed, for example, a room or a store.

  Therefore, Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a vacuum cleaner that travels by recognizing the traveling space and cleans the traveling space. In Patent Document 1, a map showing the size and shape of the travel space is created by a mapping operation, and the main body determines the travel route necessary for autonomous travel and travels.

In Patent Document 2, the cleaning sharing of the master unit and the slave unit is determined from the surrounding images captured by the image processing means, and each control information, area information, and status information is sequentially exchanged between the master unit and the slave unit by radio. The cleaning range is shared and cleaned.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-46239 (paragraphs 0005 to 0006, FIG. 1) JP 2003-180587 (paragraphs 0007 to 0012, FIG. 1)

  In Patent Document 1, cleaning is performed by sucking in, but cleaning a place where the main body cannot enter, such as a corner or a corner of a room, or a low space such as under a bed. There is a problem that can not be.

  In Patent Document 2, cleaning is performed on corners and corners of a room or a space with a low height such as under a bed. However, since the vacuum cleaner detects an obstacle by image processing, it cannot accurately determine whether or not the main body can pass through the gap between the obstacle and the floor.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a self-propelled cleaner that can grasp the situation of an obstacle and clarify the cleaning range of the cleaner in a space with an obstacle such as a room or a store. It is said.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a self-propelled cleaner that is a combination of a plurality of cleaners having different sizes for cleaning while moving in a space with an obstacle. It is characterized by comprising detecting means for detecting whether the cleaner can move in the vicinity of the obstacle.

  That is, the detection means includes a detector that detects an interval between obstacles. The detecting means determines whether or not the vicinity of the obstacle can be moved from the interval measured by the detector and the shape of another cleaning machine. Further, obstacle information is created based on the determination result. Obstacles include floors and walls, and the vicinity of the obstacle means a gap between obstacles such as a space around the obstacle or a low height such as under the bed, or the floor and other obstacles. It is a gap with. The surroundings of the obstacles are the corners and corners of the room, the walls, furniture, beds, and the like. The detector is a distance sensor that detects a gap between obstacles in the horizontal direction and a height sensor that detects a gap between obstacles in the height direction.

  In addition, the cleaning machine includes a determination unit that determines a cleaning range of each cleaning machine based on the obstacle information obtained by the detection unit, and a transmission unit that transmits the determined cleaning range to another cleaning machine. It is characterized by.

  According to the said structure, a determination means determines the range to be cleaned suitable for the form of each cleaner based on the obstruction information obtained by the detection means. The transmission means transmits the determined cleaning range of each cleaner to each cleaner using communication, a storage medium, or the like. In this way, each cleaner can share obstacle information and various types of information on the cleaning range. Based on various types of information, the cleaners cooperate to clean the vicinity of obstacles that cannot be cleaned by the large cleaner. Furthermore, the cleaner can memorize | clean the range which each cleaned, and can prevent that other cleaners clean the same place.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine the cleaning range according to the form of each cleaning machine by detecting the movable range of other cleaning machines in a space with an obstacle. In particular, a small cleaning machine can share a narrow gap between obstacles such as a wall near a wall that cannot be cleaned with a large cleaning machine, and a space under the bed, so that the cleaning range becomes clear. In this way, since the sharing of each cleaner can be determined at the right place for the right material, it is possible to clean the entire space even in a space with obstacles.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a master unit and a slave unit of a self-propelled cleaner according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between a gap under an obstacle and the heights of the master unit and the slave unit. 3 is a control block diagram of the slave unit, FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the master unit, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a cleaning range of the master unit and the slave unit in the obstacle space, and FIG. 6 is a cleaning start of the self-propelled cleaner. The flowchart from the end to the end is shown.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the self-propelled cleaner of the present invention is composed of a parent machine 10 that is a first cleaning machine having a different size and a child machine 20 that is a second cleaning machine. Move around the surrounding space, where there are obstacles such as room walls, furniture and beds.

  2 and 3, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a disk-shaped main body 21 having a thickness in the height direction, a cleaning device 30 for cleaning by sucking dust and dirt on the floor surface, A moving device 40 for moving in a space to be cleaned, a distance sensor 51 for detecting surrounding obstacles, a height sensor 52 for detecting obstacles above, and detection by the distance sensor 51 and the height sensor 52 A control unit 60 that controls the cleaning device 30 and the moving device 40 based on the result, and a transmission device 70 that transmits information between the parent device 10 are provided. The bottom surface of the main body 21 is flat and the top surface is also flat. From the upper surface to the side surface, the surface is a gentle curved surface so that the upper corner of the handset 20 does not hit an obstacle. Moreover, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 is lower than the height of the main | base station 10. FIG. Thereby, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 can usually clean the part into which the main | base station 10 cannot approach.

  The cleaning device 30 has a configuration similar to that of a general vacuum cleaner, and sucks dust, dust and the like together with air from a nozzle 32 provided on the bottom surface of the main body 21, and a dust collection bag (see FIG. Garbage, dust, etc. are collected. At that time, the air sucked together with dust, dust and the like is exhausted from an exhaust port (not shown). The nozzle 32 protrudes outward from the main body 21 and is attached so as to clean a wall, a gap between furniture, and under the bed. Thereby, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 can clean the vicinity of obstructions, such as a clearance gap near a wall or furniture.

  The moving device 40 includes a drive motor (not shown), a pair of left and right drive wheels 41 driven by the drive motor, and an auxiliary wheel 42 that supports the main body 21 during traveling. The drive motor is built in the main body 21 and transmits power to the drive wheels 41 through a power transmission unit such as a shaft or gear. The drive wheels 41 are provided on the rear side of the bottom surface of the main body 21, and the left and right are independently rotated. During forward travel, both drive wheels 41 rotate simultaneously in the forward direction, and during reverse travel, both drive wheels 41 rotate simultaneously in the reverse direction. At the time of turning, each drive wheel 41 rotates in a different direction, or one drive wheel 41 is driven to stop and the other drive wheel 41 rotates. The auxiliary wheel 42 is disposed between the nozzle 31 and the driving wheel 41 provided on the bottom surface of the main body 21. The auxiliary wheels 42 rotate around the vertical axis so that the main body 21 can smoothly travel along the movement of the drive wheels 41. Therefore, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 can drive | work freely by the combination of operation | movement, such as advancing, reverse, turning, and a stop.

  The distance sensor 51 is a non-contact sensor such as an infrared sensor or an ultrasonic sensor, and a plurality of distance sensors 51 are arranged on the circumference of the side surface of the main body 21 to detect a horizontal distance from the main body 21 to the obstacle. To do. Further, when there are obstacles on both sides of the main body 21, for example, when the main body 21 enters between the wall and the furniture or between the furniture and the bed, the distance between the obstacles can be detected by the distance sensor 51. .

  The height sensor 52 is a non-contact sensor such as an infrared sensor or an ultrasonic sensor, and is disposed at the center of the upper surface of the main body 21 and detects a vertical distance to an obstacle above the slave unit 20. To do. That is, the height of the gap can be detected by the height sensor 52 with respect to an obstacle having a gap between the floor such as a bed, a desk, and a table.

  The transmission device 70 is a wired or wireless communication device and is built in the main body 21. The transmission device 70 may use a recording device that records information on a recording medium such as a memory card or an optical disk instead of the communication device, and may transmit the information via the storage medium.

  The control unit 60 includes a general microcomputer having a RAM, a ROM, and a CPU therein, and a cleaning device according to a predetermined cleaning pattern based on inputs from the distance sensor 51 and the height sensor 52. 30, the moving device 40 and the transmission device 70 are controlled. The control unit 60 determines whether the base unit 10 can move in the vicinity of the obstacle based on the collection function for collecting the spatial information based on the outputs of the distance sensor 51 and the height sensor 52 while moving the main body 21 and the spatial information. A decision function, an obstacle information creation function for creating obstacle information based on the judgment result, and map information creation for creating map information by determining the cleaning ranges 91 and 92 of the master unit 10 and the slave unit 20 from the obstacle information It has a function, a transmission function for transmitting each piece of information such as map information and obstacle information to the main unit 10, and a cleaning function for cleaning the cleaning range 92 determined according to the map information. The collection function, the determination function, and the obstacle information creation function constitute detection means for detecting whether other cleaners can move in the vicinity of the obstacle, and the map information creation function determines the movable range of each cleaner. A determining means for creating a map to be shown is configured.

  Spatial information is information about the shape of the room, that is, the position of the wall, the position of obstacles such as beds and furniture, and the horizontal gap between obstacles such as furniture and beds, and the lower part such as desks and beds. Information on the presence or absence of an obstacle having a gap with the floor and the size of the gap. The former information is obtained based on the output from the distance sensor 51, and the latter information is obtained based on the output from the height sensor 52. And the subunit | mobile_unit 20 collects the information in a room by moving in the room along obstacles, such as a wall and furniture.

  The obstacle information is information obtained by adding a result of determining a gap through which the parent device 10 can pass and a gap through which the parent device 10 cannot pass to the spatial information. The control unit 60 of the child device 20 stores information related to the size and shape of the parent device 10 in advance and compares the horizontal gap with the size of the parent device 10 to determine whether the parent device 10 can pass. Similarly, it is determined whether the base unit 10 can pass through the gap in the height direction.

  The cleaning ranges 91 and 92 are clearly divided into a range where the parent device 10 is cleaned and a range where the child device 20 is cleaned in the room. The cleaning range 91 of the base unit 10 is determined by deriving a range in which the base unit 10 can move from the obstacle information. The cleaning range 92 of the child device 20 is the range excluding the range in which the parent device 10 can move in the room. That is, the cleaning range 92 of the handset 20 is in the vicinity of an obstacle such as a wall, around furniture, a narrow gap, and a gap under the bed.

  The map information is a collection of all the spatial information, obstacle information, and cleaning ranges 91 and 92. The control unit 60 refers to the map information, selects a cleaning pattern, and determines the moving direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, base unit 10 has substantially the same configuration as slave unit 20. And it is the shape similar to the subunit | mobile_unit 20, and the main | base station 10 is made larger than the subunit | mobile_unit 20 in a horizontal direction and a height direction. In addition, the main | base station 10 is not provided with the height sensor 51 which the subunit | mobile_unit 20 has. Further, the nozzle 31 of the master unit 10 is different from the nozzle 32 of the slave unit 20, and is located on the front side of the bottom surface of the main body 11 and has a brush attached around it.

  The control unit 60 of the parent device 10 does not have a series of functions for creating obstacle information like the control unit 60 of the child device 20, but other functions are the same as those of the child device 20. .

  Next, the procedure for cleaning using the self-propelled cleaner of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, FIG. 5 shows the schematic of the room cleaned with the self-propelled cleaner of this embodiment. 110 is a wall, 120 is a bed, 130 is furniture such as a chiffon. The cleaning ranges 91 and 92 of the self-propelled cleaner are floor surfaces, 91 is a range to be cleaned by the master unit 10, and 92 is a range to be cleaned by the slave unit 20. Although the cleaning range 91 of the parent device 10 and the cleaning range 92 of the child device 20 are the same floor surface, for convenience of explanation, the cleaning range 92 of the child device 20 is hatched.

  First, the slave 20 travels along obstacles such as the wall 110 of the room and the furniture 130 prior to the master 10, and cleans the wall. At this time, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 drive | works along the left wall 110 with respect to the advancing direction. The subunit | mobile_unit 20 memorize | stores the shape of a room, the range cleaned, etc., running, and produces obstruction information. At that time, the obstacle above is also detected by the height sensor 52.

  When the height sensor 52 detects a value larger than a predetermined value, the slave 20 travels along an obstacle such as the wall 110 or the furniture 130 and continues cleaning. When the child device 20 enters the space under the bed 120, the height sensor 52 detects a value smaller than a predetermined value. The control unit 60 determines that there is an obstacle above and switches the cleaning pattern, and the handset 20 reciprocates. That is, when the handset 20 approaches an obstacle such as the wall 110 or the furniture 130 or exits the space under the bed 120 and the output of the height sensor 52 becomes larger than a predetermined value, The reciprocation is repeated by turning 180 degrees by the diameter. Thereby, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 can perform the cleaning of the space under the bed 120 all over.

  Thus, the control part 60 of the subunit | mobile_unit 20 has a function which changes a cleaning pattern based on the output of the height sensor 52. FIG. That is, when the output of the height sensor 52 is greater than a predetermined value, the control unit 60 controls the moving device 40 so as to move along the obstacle. When the output of the height sensor 52 is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the moving device 40 is controlled to reciprocate. The predetermined value is set with reference to the height of base unit 10. Therefore, the criterion for determining whether or not the base unit 10 can pass through the gap with the floor below the obstacle is based on this predetermined value.

  When the handset 20 reaches the point “A” shown in FIG. 5, similarly, the handset 20 reciprocates by revolving by the diameter, but the height sensor 52 detects a value larger than a predetermined value. The cleaning pattern is switched so as to travel along obstacles such as the wall 110 and the furniture 130 again. The subunit | mobile_unit 20 completes cleaning, when returning to the point which self started. At this time, the control unit 60 calculates the cleaning range 91 of the parent device 10 from the obstacle information and the cleaned range. These pieces of information are collected to create map information and stored in the memory.

  The subunit | mobile_unit 20 transmits map information to the main | base station 10 via the transmission apparatus 70. FIG. Master device 10 receives the map information and recognizes its own cleaning range 91. When starting the cleaning, the base unit 10 detects an obstacle while moving and grasps the current position from the map information. Thereafter, the base unit 10 moves to the start position and cleans the determined cleaning range 91. At this time, the base unit 10 performs cleaning by reciprocating or spirally moving the cleaning range 91 in the same manner as the slave unit 20.

  In addition, it is possible for the parent device 10 to perform cleaning immediately after the child device 20 starts cleaning. In this case, the handset 20 always transmits to the base unit 10 the obstacle information within the range cleaned by the handset 20. Based on the received obstacle information, base unit 10 travels along the trajectory traveled by slave unit 20 while determining whether the vicinity of the obstacle can be moved.

  It can also be considered that the traveling order of the parent device 10 and the child device 20 is switched. In this case, base unit 10 first performs cleaning while traveling along obstacles such as room wall 110 and furniture 130. When the base unit 10 detects an obstacle such as the bed 120 and the furniture 130, the base unit 10 performs cleaning by spirally moving along the obstacle toward the center of the cleaning range 91. The base unit 10 creates spatial information based on the range in which the base unit 10 travels in the same manner as the base unit 20. When the cleaning of the parent device 10 is completed, the parent device 10 transmits the spatial information and the cleaning range 91 to the child device 20 via the transmission device 70. The subunit | mobile_unit 20 can clean the remaining cleaning range 92 based on the received information. At this time, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 memorize | stores the shape of the room, the cleaned range, etc., cleaning based on the cleaning range 91 received from the main | base station 10. FIG. At this time, since the child device 20 detects a gap such as under the bed 120 through which the parent device 10 cannot pass, it creates obstacle information from this information.

  Moreover, the main | base station 10 and the subunit | mobile_unit 20 can also respectively clean without using the transmission apparatus 70 which transmits an obstruction information, map information, etc. In this case, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 cleans along obstacles, such as a wall and furniture 130, based on the detection result from the distance sensor 51. FIG. At this time, the control part 60 of the subunit | mobile_unit 20 switches a 1st cleaning means and a 2nd cleaning means by the change of the output of the height sensor 52. FIG. The first cleaning means refers to the wall 110 and the furniture 130 without cleaning the floor of the gap when the base unit 10 is determined to be able to move through the gap with the floor below the obstacle such as the furniture 130 and the bed 120. By performing a cleaning pattern for cleaning while moving along obstacles such as the second cleaning means, cleaning is performed to clean the entire floor of the gap when it is determined that the base unit 10 cannot move through the gap. To execute the pattern.

  That is, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 moves along obstructions, such as the wall 110 and the furniture 130, when the height sensor 52 detects a value larger than predetermined value. When the slave 20 enters the gap under the bed 120 or the like, the height sensor 52 detects a value smaller than a predetermined value. The subunit | mobile_unit 20 judges that there is an obstruction above, switches a cleaning pattern, and cleans by reciprocating the floor whole surface of the crevice under the bed 120 grade | etc.,. At this time, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 cleans until the output of the height sensor 52 becomes larger than a predetermined value. When the handset 20 returns to the point where it started, the handset 20 stops the cleaning device 30 and moves the entire room by reciprocating or spiraling. Thereby, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 can also clean with respect to the obstruction which has a clearance gap in the lower parts, such as a desk and a table in the center of a room.

  In addition, the main | base station 10 cleans a room by reciprocating or spiraling based on the detection result from the distance sensor 51. Moreover, the main | base station 10 may start cleaning simultaneously with the subunit | mobile_unit 20, or may start cleaning after completion | finish of cleaning of the subunit | mobile_unit 20. FIG. In addition, the subunit | mobile_unit 20 which cleans a clearance gap is the smallest cleaning machine in the cleaning machine to be used among several cleaning machines. That is, when using large and medium cleaning machines of different sizes from large, medium, and small, the medium cleaning machine cleans the gap as the slave unit 20 and all the cleaning machines Or a small cleaning machine cleans the gap.

  Further, when the master unit 10 fails or when it is desired to use the slave unit 20 alone, for example, when the master unit 10 determines that it is out of order and transmits the determination result to the slave unit 20, the slave unit 20 When there is no reply within a certain time after communicating with the main unit 10, or when a person who is an operator has set in advance to clean only with the sub unit 10, etc., regardless of the output of the height sensor 52. The machine 20 always reciprocates or spirals. The subunit | mobile_unit 20 can move throughout the room and can clean it. In this case, the control unit 60 creates obstacle information from the detection results of the sensors 51 and 52, but does not create the cleaning ranges 91 and 92 from the obstacle information.

  Although the application example of the present invention has been described based on the drawings, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, although an example with two units, ie, a master unit and a slave unit is shown, a plurality of slave units may be provided. In addition, by setting the size of each slave unit to a different size such as large, medium and small, it is possible to select a slave unit suitable for cleaning a place with a low height or a slave unit suitable for a place with a narrow width. it can. Thereby, the cleaning machine of the shape specialized for each place can be used, and the cleaning range can be divided finely.

  The distance sensor and height sensor use non-contact type sensors such as reflection sensors and ultrasonic sensors, but contact sensors extended to the same length as the base unit are attached to the top and side surfaces of the slave unit. It may be provided. In this case, when the handset passes near the obstacle, the obstacle comes into contact with the contact sensor. There are no gaps between the obstacles such as a width and a height enough to allow the parent machine to pass. Accordingly, the slave unit can determine an appropriate cleaning range for the master unit and other slave units.

  Also, space information, obstacle information, map information, etc. for each room can be stored in advance. For example, by dividing the information for several rooms by numbers and selecting the number of the room to be cleaned, the parent device and the child device start cleaning simultaneously based on the information stored in the number. At this time, even if the arrangement of the obstacle is different from the stored information, each sensor can detect the obstacle and rewrite the information each time. As a result, the master unit can perform cleaning alone without transmission of map information or obstacle information from the slave unit, so that the cleaning time can be shortened.

  Further, when the parent device detects an obstacle in the center of the room, the vicinity of the obstacle detected by the child device after the cleaning of the parent device can be cleaned. For example, the main unit performs cleaning based on map information, obstacle information, and the like received from the sub unit. At that time, the base unit detects an obstacle in the center of the room. The master unit communicates the information to the slave unit after cleaning. The slave unit performs cleaning while detecting the vicinity of the obstacle based on the received information. As a result, even if the obstacle in the center of the room has a gap underneath, such as a desk or table, the slave can detect the gap and clean it without leaving the room. Can do.

The perspective view of the main | base station of the self-propelled cleaner which concerns on this invention, and a subunit | mobile_unit The figure for demonstrating the relationship between the clearance gap of the lower part of an obstruction, and the height of a main | base station and a subunit | mobile_unit Slave unit control block diagram Control block diagram of the main unit The figure which shows the cleaning range of the main unit and the sub unit in the obstacle space Flow chart from start to finish of self-propelled cleaner

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main unit 11 Main unit main body 20 Sub unit 21 Sub unit main body 30 Cleaning device 31 Main unit nozzle 32 Sub unit nozzle 40 Moving device 41 Driving wheel 42 Auxiliary wheel 51 Distance sensor 52 Height sensor 60 Control unit 70 Transmission device 91 Cleaning range of main unit 92 Cleaning range of sub unit 110 Wall 120 Bed 130 Furniture

Claims (6)

In a space where there is an obstacle having a gap with the floor at the bottom, it is a self-propelled cleaner that combines a plurality of cleaners with different sizes to be cleaned while moving,
Among the plurality of cleaning machines, the smaller cleaning machine detects whether the larger cleaning machine can move the gap, and the larger cleaning machine moves the gap by the detecting means. When it is determined that it is possible, the first cleaning means for cleaning around the obstacle without cleaning the floor with the gap, and when it is determined that the larger cleaner cannot move the gap, A self-propelled cleaner, comprising: a second cleaning means for cleaning a floor with a gap. The smaller cleaning machine, said determining means based on the obstacle information obtained by the detection means to determine the cleaning range of the cleaning machine, cleaning machine cleaning range determined by said determining means towards the larger The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission means for transmitting to the mobile phone. The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the determining unit creates a map indicating a movable range of each cleaner. The detection means collects spatial information while moving the cleaning machine main body, determines whether the larger cleaning machine can move in the vicinity of the obstacle based on the spatial information, and determines the obstacle information based on the determination result. self-propelled cleaner according to claim 1, characterized in that to create. The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 4, wherein the smaller cleaner collects the spatial information by moving along an obstacle in the space. The smaller cleaner creates the obstacle information by taking into account the result of determining the gap through which the larger cleaner can pass and the gap through which the larger cleaner cannot pass, in addition to the spatial information. The self-propelled cleaner according to claim 5.

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