CN103324193B - Cleaning robot and method for controlling cleaning robot to walk along obstacle - Google Patents

Abstract

A cleaning robot and a method for controlling the cleaning robot to walk along obstacles, wherein the cleaning robot includes a body, an infrared transmitter, an infrared receiver, and an edge-following control module. The infrared transmitter emits an infrared signal to the obstacle; the infrared receiver receives the reflected signal of the infrared signal reflected by the obstacle; and, the edge tracking control module is electrically connected to the infrared receiver. When the intensity of the reflected signal exceeds a threshold, the body is triggered to The edge following distance of the first order is walking along the obstacle. If the body walks along the obstacle but does not encounter the obstacle, after the predetermined time is reached, the edge following distance of the body will be sequentially reduced from the first order to the second order and then to the third order. The third level...the Nth level, until the body encounters an obstacle.

Description

Cleaning robot and method for controlling cleaning robot to walk along obstacles

technical field

The present invention relates to a cleaning robot capable of walking along obstacles with multiple trailing distances.

Background technique

Cleaning robots currently on the market are equipped with obstacle detectors, and through the detection of obstacle detectors, such cleaning robots usually have the function of walking along walls or obstacles to perform cleaning tasks. There are two types of obstacle detectors: contact and non-contact. Contact-type obstacle detectors tend to stick the dust on the cleaning robot to the wall or furniture. If the cleaning robot hits the obstacle with too much force, the furniture is easy to be damaged.

The non-contact obstacle detector does not directly collide with obstacles, but detects the reflection signal of infrared rays by emitting infrared rays into the environment where the cleaning robot is located. If the non-contact obstacle detector detects the reflected infrared light, it means that there is an obstacle near the cleaning robot. However, the reflection intensity of infrared rays will be affected by the reflectivity of the obstacle. If the reflectivity of the obstacle is high, the cleaning robot will detect the signal of the obstacle far away from the obstacle. At this time, the cleaning robot will not continue to move towards the obstacle. If the robot is performing a cleaning task, the dust near the obstacle cannot be removed, which reduces the cleaning efficiency of the cleaning robot. On the contrary, if the reflectivity of the obstacle is low, the cleaning robot will be too close to the obstacle, and it is very easy to hit the obstacle.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a new cleaning robot, no matter whether the reflectivity of the obstacle is high or low, it can find the best distance between the cleaning robot and the obstacle, neither hitting the obstacle nor being too far away from the obstacle And can not sweep dust, to overcome the existing problems of prior art.

Contents of the invention

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a cleaning robot that can walk along obstacles.

Another main purpose of the present invention is to provide a cleaning robot capable of walking along obstacles with multiple tracking distances.

To achieve the above purpose, the cleaning robot of the present invention can walk along an obstacle, and the cleaning robot includes a main body, an infrared emitter, an infrared receiver, and an edge tracking control module. The body can walk along obstacles with complex tracking distances, wherein the complex tracking distances include N-order tracking distances, where N is a natural number, and the first-order tracking distance is the longest, and the N-th order tracking distance is the shortest. The infrared emitter is arranged on the body to transmit an infrared signal to the obstacle; the infrared receiver is arranged on the body to receive the reflected signal of the infrared signal reflected by the obstacle. The edge tracking control module is installed on the body and is electrically connected to the infrared receiver. When the reflected signal strength exceeds a threshold, the body is triggered to walk along the obstacle with the first-order edge tracking distance. If the body walks along the obstacle but does not touch it When there is an obstacle, the edge tracking control module will arrive at a predetermined time, and the edge tracking distance of the main body will be reduced from the first level to the second level, the third level ... the Nth level in sequence according to a preset interval value, Until the main body hits an obstacle, if the main body walks along the obstacle with the Nth-order edge tracking distance but encounters an obstacle, the edge tracking control module will change the main body's edge tracking distance from the Nth-order Increased to N-1th order.

The present invention also provides a method for controlling the cleaning robot to walk along the obstacle, so that the cleaning robot can walk along the obstacle. The edge distance walks along the obstacle, where the complex edge tracking distance includes N-order edge tracking distances, where N is a natural number, and the first-order edge tracking distance is the longest, and the N-th order edge tracking distance is the shortest. Control the cleaning robot along the obstacle The method for object walking comprises the following steps: sending an infrared signal to an obstacle by means of an infrared transmitter; receiving a reflection signal of an infrared signal reflected by an obstacle by means of an infrared receiver; The tracking distance of the first order walks along the obstacle; if the body walks along the obstacle without encountering the obstacle, the tracking control module will arrive at the predetermined time, and the tracking distance of the body will be sequentially adjusted according to the preset interval value. Decrease from the first stage to the second stage, the third stage...the Nth stage until the cleaning robot encounters an obstacle; , the edge tracking control module will increase the edge tracking distance of the main body from the Nth step to the N-1th step according to the preset interval value.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the schematic diagram that cleaning robot of the present invention walks along obstacle;

Figure 1a is a schematic diagram of the hardware architecture of the cleaning robot of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the steps of the method for controlling the cleaning robot to walk along obstacles in the present invention.

reference sign

Cleaning robot 1 body 10

infrared transmitter 20 infrared signal 21

Reflected signal 22 Infrared receiver 30

Tracking control module 40 light blocking barrier 50

Obstacles 100

detailed description

The present invention will be described in further detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 1a together for an embodiment of the cleaning robot of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the cleaning robot of the present invention walking along obstacles, and FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram of the hardware architecture of the cleaning robot of the present invention .

As shown in Figure 1 and Figure 1a, the cleaning robot 1 of the present invention can walk along the obstacle 100, the cleaning robot 1 includes a body 10, an infrared receiver 20, an infrared receiver 30, an edge tracking control module 40, and a light blocking barrier 50 . In this embodiment, the obstacle 100 is a wall, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the obstacle 100 may also be furniture, or other items placed at home.

In this embodiment, the main body 10 can walk along the obstacle 100 with complex tracking distances. The walking path is shown in FIG. The edge tracking distance of is the longest (N'=1 in Fig. 1), and the edge tracking distance of the Nth order is the shortest. It should be noted here that the number of N is not limited, and when the main body 10 hits the obstacle 100 , the edge tracking distance will not be reduced any more.

According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the tracking distance of each step is set to a preset interval distance, and the tracking distance of each step will decrease equidistantly according to the preset interval distance. For example: assuming that the preset interval is 2 cm, the tracking distance of each step can be expressed as the tracking distance of the previous step minus 2 cm. If the edge-tracking distance of the first stage is 10 cm, the edge-tracking distance of the second stage is reduced to 8 cm...and so on, so that the main body 10 gradually approaches until it hits the obstacle 100, so as to find the closest However, the trailing distance without touching the obstacle 100 allows the dust near the obstacle 100 to be removed to achieve the best cleaning effect. It should be noted here that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the edge tracking distances of each stage do not need to decrease equidistantly.

In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the infrared emitter 20 is disposed on the body 10 , and the infrared emitter 20 emits an infrared signal 21 into the obstacle 100 . The infrared receiver 30 is disposed on the body 10 , and the infrared receiver 30 receives a reflected signal 22 of the infrared signal 21 reflected by the obstacle 100 , and the reflected signal 22 is an infrared signal. As shown in Figure 1a, the light-blocking barrier 50 is arranged between the infrared transmitter 20 and the infrared receiver 30, and the light-blocking barrier 50 can block the infrared signal 21 emitted by the infrared transmitter 20 directly from the infrared receiver 30, so that It is ensured that the reflected signal 22 received by the infrared receiver 30 is all reflected by the obstacle 100 . It should be noted here that in this embodiment, the infrared emitter 20 and the infrared receiver 30 are both arranged on the right side of the body 10, but the present invention is not limited thereto, as long as the infrared emitter 20 and the infrared receiver 30 It only needs to be arranged on the same side of the main body 10 , or the infrared emitter 20 and the infrared receiver 30 are provided on both left and right sides of the main body 10 , which is also applicable to the present invention.

As shown in Figure 1a, the edge tracking control module 40 is arranged in the main body 10 and is electrically connected with the infrared receiver 30. When the intensity of the reflected signal 22 exceeds a threshold, the edge tracking control module 40 triggers the main body 10 to follow the edge of the first order. Distance to walk along the obstacle 100. It should be noted that the tracking distance of the first order will vary with the reflectivity of the obstacle 100. For example, if the obstacle 100 can reflect 90% of the infrared signal (representing the color of the obstacle 100 close to white), at a distance of 8 centimeters between the main body 10 and the obstacle 100, the infrared receiver 30 has already received the reflected signal 22 exceeding the threshold, and the main body 10 is triggered to start walking along the obstacle 100 with a tracking distance of 8 centimeters. And the 8 centimeters here is the first-order edge tracking distance, which is shown at N'=1 place in Fig. 1. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the edge tracking control module 40 is a control circuit, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the edge tracking control module 40 can be configured as a hardware device, software program, firmware or other In addition to the combination, it can also be configured by means of circuit loops or other appropriate types.

On the contrary, if the obstacle 100 only reflects 18% of the infrared signal (indicating that the color of the obstacle 100 is close to black), the body 10 must be very close to the obstacle 100 to receive the infrared rays whose intensity is enough to trigger the body 10 to walk along the obstacle 100 Signal. For example, when the distance between the body 10 and the obstacle 100 is 5 cm, the infrared receiver 30 receives the reflected signal 22 whose strength exceeds the threshold, and the body 10 is triggered to start walking along the obstacle 100 with a tracking distance of 5 cm. Therefore, facing the obstacles 100 with different reflectivity, the main body 10 starts to walk along the obstacles 100 with different first-order tracking distances. According to an embodiment of the present invention, if the obstacle 100 reflects 90% of the infrared signal, the tracking distance of the first stage is about 8 cm. If the obstacle 100 reflects 18% of the infrared signal, the first-order tracking distance is about 5 cm.

As shown in Figure 1, when the main body 10 walks along the obstacle 100 for a predetermined time (such as: 30 seconds) with the first-order edge-tracking distance and does not hit the obstacle 100 during walking, it means the first-order edge-tracking The distance to the obstacle 100 is too far. At this time, the tracking control module 40 will shorten the tracking distance of the main body 10, so that the main body 10 can walk along the obstacle 100 with the second-order tracking distance, which is shown as N'=2 in FIG. 1 . It should be noted here that, according to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the tracking distance of each step is equidistantly decreasing by 2 cm. If the tracking distance of the first step is 8 cm, the tracking distance of the second step will be shortened. 6 cm, let the body 10 be closer to the obstacle 100 .

If the main body 10 has not encountered the obstacle 100 after walking along the obstacle 100 with the second-order edge tracking distance for a predetermined time (such as: 30 seconds), the edge tracking control module 40 will shorten the edge tracking distance of the main body 10 again, and control The main body 10 walks along the obstacle 100 with the third-level tracking distance, so that the main body 10 is closer to the wall. In this embodiment, the third-level tracking distance is 4 cm. As shown in FIG. 1 , when the main body 10 has encountered an obstacle 100 while walking with the third-order tracking distance, the tracking control module 40 will immediately increase the tracking distance of the main body 10 regardless of whether the scheduled time is reached. Allow the main body 10 to walk along the obstacle 100 with the second-order trailing distance (6 cm in this embodiment).

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 below, regarding the method of controlling the cleaning robot to walk along the obstacle of the present invention, wherein FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the steps of the method of controlling the cleaning robot to walk along the obstacle of the present invention. For convenience of description, please refer to FIG. 1 together.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the method for controlling the cleaning robot to walk along the obstacle in the present invention is used to allow the cleaning robot 1 to follow the obstacle 100 with complex tracking distances, wherein the complex tracking distances include N-order tracking distances, where N is natural number, and the first-order edge-tracking distance is the longest, and the N-th order edge-tracking distance is the shortest, the method for controlling the cleaning robot to walk along the obstacle of the present invention comprises the following steps:

Step S1: send an infrared signal to the obstacle by means of an infrared emitter.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the infrared emitter 20 is disposed on the body 10 , and the infrared emitter 20 emits an infrared signal 21 to the obstacle 100 .

Step S2: Receive a reflection signal of the infrared signal reflected by the obstacle by means of the infrared receiver.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the infrared receiver 30 is disposed on the body 10 , and the infrared receiver 30 receives a reflected signal 22 of the infrared signal 21 reflected by the obstacle 100 .

Step S3: Whether the reflected signal strength exceeds a threshold.

If the intensity of the reflected signal 22 does not exceed the threshold, it means that there is no obstacle 100 near the cleaning robot 1, and the edge tracking control module 40 is not triggered at this time (step S9).

If the intensity of the reflected signal 22 exceeds the threshold, step S4 is executed.

Step S4: trigger the cleaning robot by means of the edge tracking control module to

The first-order tracking distance walks along obstacles.

As shown in FIG. 1 , when the intensity of the reflected signal 22 exceeds the threshold, the tracking control module 40 will trigger the body 10 to walk along the obstacle 100 with the first-order tracking distance. It should be noted here that the first-order tracking distance will vary with the reflectivity of the obstacle 100 , and if the obstacle 100 reflects 90% of the infrared signal, the first-order tracking distance is about 8 cm. If the obstacle 100 reflects 18% of the infrared signal, the first-order tracking distance is about 5 cm. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the edge tracking control module 40 is a control circuit.

Step S5: Arrived at the scheduled time without encountering any obstacles?

If the predetermined time is not up but the obstacle has been encountered, the main body 10 will continue to walk along the obstacle 100 with the first-order tracking distance (step 10).

If the predetermined time arrives and no obstacle is encountered, step S6 is executed.

Step S6: Walk along the obstacle with the second-order edge tracking distance.

When the main body 10 walks along the obstacle 100 with the first-order tracking distance for a predetermined time (such as: 30 seconds) and within the predetermined time, the main body 10 does not hit the obstacle 100, which means the first-order tracking distance The distance to obstacle 100 is too far. At this time, the edge tracking control module 40 will shorten the edge tracking distance of the main body 10 , and let the main body 10 walk along the obstacle 100 with the second-order edge tracking distance for the predetermined time.

According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the tracking distance of each step is set to a preset interval distance, and the tracking distance of each step will decrease equidistantly according to the preset interval distance. If the tracking distance of the first stage is 10 cm, and the preset spacing distance is 2 cm, then the tracking distance of the second stage will be reduced to 8 cm.

Step S7: Arrived at the scheduled time without encountering any obstacles?

If the main body 10 has not encountered the obstacle 100 after walking along the obstacle 100 with the second-order tracking distance for a predetermined time (for example: 30 seconds), the tracking control module 40 will further shorten the tracking distance of the main body 10, The main body 10 is controlled to walk along the obstacle 100 with the third-order tracking distance, so that the main body 10 is closer to the wall.

It should be noted that step S7 will be repeated continuously before the main body 10 hits the obstacle 100. If the answer is "yes" every time, the tracking distance of the main body 10 will be sequentially increased from the first to the second. The stages are reduced to the second stage, the third stage...the Nth stage, until the cleaning robot 1 hits the obstacle 100 . If the main body 10 has not encountered the obstacle 100, after repeating step S7N' times, the main body 10 will walk along the obstacle 100 with the N'th order of tracking distance (step S8), it should be noted here that N' ≤N.

If the main body 10 walks along the obstacle 100 with the second-order tracking distance but encounters the obstacle 100, no matter whether the predetermined time is reached at this time, the tracking control module 40 will immediately increase the tracking distance of the main body 10, so that the main body 10 Change to walking along the obstacle 100 with the first-order tracking distance (step S11).

However, if "No" appears for the N'th time of repeating step S7, it means that the cleaning robot 1 has encountered an obstacle 100, and at this time the edge tracking distance will no longer be reduced, and the edge tracking distance of the main body 10 will be increased to N'th. - the edge tracking distance of order 1 (step S12).

By changing the tracking distance of the cleaning robot 1 along the obstacle 100 , the cleaning robot 1 can find the best tracking distance to the obstacle 100 when facing the obstacle 100 with different reflectivity. When the cleaning robot 1 faces an obstacle 100 with high reflectivity, it can find the most appropriate distance to clean the dust near the obstacle 100, and it will not appear that the dust near the obstacle 100 cannot be swept because it is too far away from the obstacle 100. question. When facing the obstacle 100 with low reflectivity, the cleaning robot 1 will not damage the main body 10 or stain the furniture or wall because it is too close to the obstacle 100 .

It should be noted here that the method for controlling the cleaning robot to walk along obstacles in the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned sequence of steps, as long as the purpose of the present invention can be achieved, the sequence of the above-mentioned steps can also be changed.

The technical content and technical characteristics of the present invention have been disclosed above. Without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, those skilled in the art can make various corresponding changes and deformations according to the present invention, but these corresponding changes and All deformations should belong to the protection scope of the appended claims of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. a clean robot, for walking along a barrier, this clean robot includes:

One body, this body follows back gauge with plural number and walks along this barrier, and what wherein this plural number followed that back gauge includes N rank follows back gauge, and wherein N is natural number, and the first rank to follow back gauge the longest, N rank to follow back gauge the shortest;

One RF transmitter, is arranged at this body, in order to launch an infrared signal to this barrier;

One infrared receiver, is arranged at this body, reflects a reflected signal of this infrared signal in order to receive this barrier; And

One follows limit controls module, it is arranged at this body, it is electrically connected with this infrared receiver, when this reflected signal strength is more than a threshold value, trigger this body to walk along this barrier with the back gauge of following on the first rank, if this body is walked along this barrier when but not meeting this barrier, this follows limit control module will when a scheduled time arrives, the back gauge of following allowing this body will sequentially reduce to second-order, the 3rd rank from the first rank according to a predetermined interval value ... N rank, until this body meets this barrier.

2. clean robot as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that, if this body with N ' rank follow back gauge along this barrier walking but meet this barrier time, this follows limit control module will increase the back gauge of following of this body to N '-1 rank from N ' rank according to this predetermined interval value, wherein N ' N.

3. clean robot as claimed in claim 2, it is characterised in that this predetermined interval value is divided into 2 centimeters.

4. clean robot as claimed in claim 3, it is characterised in that if this barrier reflects this infrared signal of 90%, the back gauge of following on these the first rank is 8 centimeters.

5. clean robot as claimed in claim 4, it is characterised in that if this barrier reflects this infrared signal of 18%, the back gauge of following on these the first rank is 5 centimeters.

6. clean robot as claimed in claim 5, it is characterised in that this scheduled time is 30 seconds.

7. one kind controls the method that clean robot is walked along barrier, in order to allow a clean robot walk along a barrier, clean robot includes a body, an infrared receiver, an infrared receiver and follow limit and control module, it is characterized in that, this body follows back gauge with plural number and walks along this barrier, what wherein this plural number followed that back gauge includes N rank follows back gauge, wherein N is natural number, and first rank to follow back gauge the longest, N rank to follow back gauge the shortest, the method that this control clean robot is walked along barrier comprises the following steps:

An infrared signal is launched to this barrier by this RF transmitter;

Receive this barrier by this infrared receiver and reflect a reflected signal of this infrared signal;

When this reflected signal strength is more than a threshold value, follows limit by this and control module and trigger this clean robot and walk along this barrier with the back gauge of following on the first rank;

If this body does not meet this barrier along the walking of this barrier, this follows limit control module will when a scheduled time arrives, the back gauge of following of this body will sequentially from the first rank minimizing to second-order, the 3rd rank according to a predetermined interval value ... N rank, until this clean robot meets this barrier; And

If this body follows back gauge along the walking of this barrier when meeting this barrier with N ' rank, this follows limit and controls module and the back gauge of following of this body will be increased to N '-1 rank from N ' rank according to this predetermined interval value, wherein N ' N.

8. the method that control clean robot as claimed in claim 7 is walked along barrier, it is characterised in that this predetermined interval value is divided into 2 centimeters.

9. the method that control clean robot as claimed in claim 8 is walked along barrier, it is characterised in that if this barrier can reflect this infrared signal of 90%, the back gauge of following on these the first rank is 8 centimeters.

10. the method that control clean robot as claimed in claim 9 is walked along barrier, it is characterised in that if this barrier can reflect this infrared signal of 18%, the back gauge of following on these the first rank is 5 centimeters.