DE102020109515B4 - Boundary system for controlling an automated gardening and landscaping implement - Google Patents

Abstract

Limiting system for controlling an automated garden and landscape working device, in particular a robot lawn mower (3), the garden and landscape working device working in a work area (1) assigned to it, e.g , e.g. working times or switching cycles, is controlled, and the work area is divided into several surface sections (A1, A2) and a surface section in the work area can be activated and deactivated by the control unit, characterized in that one or more electrical conductor tracks as at least a first closed conductor loop (4) are laid out around a first surface section (A1) and a region of the conductor loop (4) is bridged via at least one switch (20) and/or a relay in such a way that one opposite the first conductor loop around a second surface section (A2 ) modified second conductor loop is created.

Description

Automatic gardening and landscaping tools, e.g. robotic lawn mowers, automatically process a previously defined garden or landscape area as their working area in a known manner. The nature and conditions of the driving area for these implements often vary greatly, e.g. depending on the composition of the ground and the given weather conditions. Despite modern technology, such as inclination sensors, gently starting wheel motors and special wheel tires, there are regularly disruptions and/or damage to the ground due to traction damage, e.g. on a piece of grass.

The situation-related switching off of the working device, e.g. controlled by forecasts or sensors, e.g. the robotic lawnmower, e.g. due to rain, usually means that the working device is no longer able to sufficiently process the entire intended work area in the intended time, for example in the case of a to mow the robotic lawnmower properly. Especially in the months when the lawn is growing, there is the problem that the processing performance is not sufficient if the robotic lawnmower remains deactivated for a longer period of time when it rains for several days.

Damage to the work surface is often accompanied by high soil moisture. However, it can be assumed that the entire working surface of an automatic gardening and landscaping tool does not have a homogeneous and uniform composition and/or geometry. Especially on slopes, areas with waterlogging or narrow corridors, for example, there is increased damage to the lawn. The restoration of the lawn often leads to a not inconsiderable expense.

Known automated gardening and landscape work devices lack a control option to be able to adjust the device, e.g. the robot, to different garden situations or areas if required. For example, even and insensitive lawns can continue to be worked on when it rains, but critical areas should be left out.

Automatic robot lawn mowers use a boundary wire to limit the mowing area in almost all markets. This boundary wire is connected to the charging station or a base station at the beginning and end of the cable harness. This charger/base station supplies the cable with an electrical signal, e.g. an electrical voltage, preferably an AC voltage. The resulting magnetic field is received by the robotic lawnmower and set as its edge boundary.

The object of the invention is now to easily and flexibly adapt the working area of an automated gardening and landscaping tool in order to do justice to given environmental situations.

Starting from the preamble of claim 1, this object is achieved by the characterizing features of the claim. Advantageous developments and expedient refinements are specified in the dependent claims.

It is known, for example, from U.S. 2012 0 226 381 A1 , the U.S. 2017 0 344 020 A1 or the DE 10 2018 113 015 A1 a method for controlling an automated gardening and landscaping tool, in particular a robot lawn mower, the gardening and landscaping tool working in a work area assigned to it, for example a garden property. The work is controlled via one or more control units and control instructions stored there, such as working times or switching cycles. It is provided that the work area is divided into several surface sections and a surface section in the work area can be activated and deactivated by the control unit.

The limiting system for controlling an automated gardening and landscaping tool, in particular a robotic lawn mower, ensures that a specific area section can be flexibly excluded or included from the work area depending on the situation or at the specification or request of an owner of the device. The working area can thus be divided into several areas.

By using the limitation system, the possible uses, e.g. of a robotic lawnmower, are again significantly expanded. There is also the advantage, for example, of letting the robot continue to mow without damaging the critical areas of the lawn.

The invention relates to a limiting system for controlling an automated gardening and landscaping tool using a method as described above. It is provided that one or more electrical conductor tracks are designed as at least a first closed conductor loop and a region of the conductor loop is bridged via at least one switch and/or a relay in such a way that a second conductor loop is created that is different from the first conductor loop.

Changing the specified conductor loops has the effect that a work area can be divided into sections, or that the sub-area of the work area defined by the second conductor loop is the one that is still being processed under certain situational conditions or at the specification or request of an owner of the device can, while the difference range to the original workspace is disabled.

• Dabei zeigt 1 eine schematische Darstellung eines Arbeitsbereichs mit einem Rasenmähroboter.

Further aspects and advantageous developments of the delimitation system are also explained in more detail below in the description of the exemplary embodiment. However, the invention is not limited to the specific implementation of the exemplary embodiment, but also includes such developments which make use of the further technical teaching of the claims.

• while showing 1 a schematic representation of a work area with a robot lawn mower.

The working area 1 comprises a first surface section A1 and a second surface section A2. The working area 1 corresponds schematically to a lawn area 2 that has been laid out. A robot lawn mower 3 is used to care for the lawn area 2 . This robot lawn mower 3 orients itself via a first conductor loop 4, which is generally arranged in the ground area 5, preferably embedded or milled into the upper ground layer. Conductor tracks of this type make it possible, in a known manner, to form loops within which the robot moves.

The robot 3 itself has an internal control unit S1 which, for example, controls the path of the robot and monitors the state of charge of its battery. Furthermore, this control unit can be equipped with a connectivity module, e.g. a GSM, 2G, 3G, LTE or 5G module to connect to the internet.

The system for maintaining the work area 1 also includes a base station 10, which is usually also designed as a charging station for the robot 3. The base station 10 is connected to the start and end point of the first conductor loop 4, which delimits the working area 1 of the robot 3, and applies the control signal for delimiting the working area to this.

The base station 10 can also include a control unit S2, which e.g. transfers control tasks to the robot and/or serves as an access point for a network and/or provides interfaces and/or evaluation options for additional sensors or the like.

In the exemplary embodiment shown here, the second surface section A2 is designed as a slope section with a slope 11 and a plateau 12 that is lower than the first surface section A1. In the case of high soil moisture or poor weather conditions, there is a risk that the robot 3 will slip on the slope 11 and cause damage to the subsoil, or that it will lose traction when attempting to climb the slope 11, starting from the plateau 12, and thus either too Causes damage or can not get back to the charging station 10 before the energy of its batteries is used up.

In order to avoid this, the invention provides for bridging a section of the conductor loop 4 and thus excluding the area of the second surface section A2. In order to make this possible, a switch 20 is provided, which in the present case is arranged in the vicinity of the surface section A2. It is of course left to the given situation of the individual case to arrange the switch at another suitable point and to extend the corresponding lines to the points to be switched.

The switch 20 is designed as a changeover switch which connects a contact point 21 of the conductor loop 4 either to a contact point 22 of a conductor loop 23 around the second surface section A2 or connects the contact point 21 to a contact point 24 for a bridging conductor 25 .

In this way, it is possible to switch loops 23 flexibly to or from the working area of a robot 4 by arranging switches, in particular changeover switches 20, in order, for example, to avoid sinking in or toppling around in the case of high soil moisture. It is also possible to cut out areas, e.g. as a temporary flowering meadow. Various and multiple subdivisions into corresponding loops are also conceivable, but are not shown here for reasons of clarity.

In the broadest sense, the changeover switch can be understood here as a control unit, by means of which a selective connection and disconnection of the surface section A2 to the working area of the robot is achieved.

One possibility for controlling the robot is therefore to manually operate the control unit in the form of the changeover switch 20 for activating and deactivating the surface section A2. In this case, actuation in the manual sense can also be via a remote control or a wiring tion to a place that is easy to reach, for example in the area of the charging station 10 .

For further consideration, in particular the higher technological expansion stage, the control unit is referred to below as the control unit for activating and deactivating the surface section A2. For this purpose, this can be realized either by a separate switch unit 20 or electronic control unit S3, or it can be provided as a subassembly in the control unit S2 of the charging station 10 or the control unit S1 in the robot 3.

Forming the control unit S3 as an independent electronic control unit offers the advantage that existing robotic lawnmower systems can be retrofitted without interfering with the charging station 10 or the robot 3 itself, in order to realize the advantages according to the invention of switching surface areas A1, A2 on and off.

There is also the possibility, additionally or alternatively, of actuating the control unit S3 to activate and deactivate the surface section A2 via sensor data from a sensor 30, e.g. a precipitation sensor, a moisture sensor, in particular a soil moisture sensor, a wind sensor, a light sensor or . Of course, a plurality of sensors for different sensor values are also conceivable.

The sensor 30 measures e.g. the soil moisture resulting from precipitation or groundwater level. The sensor 30 advantageously reports its data to a logic unit 31, which evaluates and further processes the sensor data. The logic unit 31 can be designed independently or integrated into the sensor 30 . Allocation to the control unit S3 is also conceivable.

Depending on the selected setting, the logic unit 31 initiates a switching process at the control unit S3 from a limit value (max./min.) of the soil moisture. For example, if the soil moisture is too high, the surface section A2 can be deactivated and not available to the robot 3 for processing. In practice, it has been found that a combination of soil moisture and light intensity, and a limit value that can be set with it when measuring light intensity or precipitation, is a sensible and sustainable way of controlling the robot.

It is also expedient to actuate control unit S3 for activating and deactivating the surface section via a timer 33, in particular a timer with a calendar function.

The set data is the date and the time of day in connection with a time switch 33. For example, an area that tends to waterlogging can be completely switched off in autumn using the calendar function of the time switch.

In addition, it is possible via the timer 33 to switch off sections of the area only if the robot 3 is not inadvertently present in the area A2 to be switched off and is therefore excluded from the remaining area and access to its charging station 10 . Robots usually have working hours specified by the central controller, so that the control unit S3 can only be switched outside of these working hours in order to ensure that the robot 3 is parked in its charging station 10 .

Provision is also particularly preferably made for the control unit to be actuated to activate and deactivate the surface section via external data signals, in particular via services from the Internet, e.g. a cloud 40, with the external data signals 41 being evaluated either via additional computer program elements 42 in the control unit and converted into control signals be implemented or include control signals 43 directly. In this way, for example, additional data can be transmitted based on weather data from a weather station.

For reasons of clarity, in the 1 a connection of these control signals to the control unit S2 in the charging station 10 is shown. However, the implementation can also be implemented in the control unit S3, for example in the case of a retrofit solution, via appropriate receiver modules or electronic assemblies.

Particularly preferably, it is also possible for the subdivision into surface sections A1 and A2 to take place via one or more conductor loops, with the conductor loops being selectively opened or closed by the control unit. Especially in the case of more complex spatial arrangements or work areas with corridors, it can make sense to form several conductor loops yourself and to open and close them selectively in order to assign different surface sections to the robot for processing.

In addition to delimiting and/or subdividing the working area 1 by means of conductor loops, it is also possible for the subdivision into surface sections to take place via electrical or electronic border systems, for example via RFID markings, beacons, infrared or ultrasonic signal transmitters (not shown) or other area marking signals, with the border systems through the Control unit can be selectively opened or closed. Boundary detection techniques that do not require burying a conductive trace underground can be used for conductive loops as discussed above. All technologies that provide a border and that can use the option of a manually/automatically changeable border are suitable for this.

In addition, it is also provided that the subdivision into surface sections A1, A2 takes place via position determination systems 44, for example via satellite navigation (GPS or similar), with the areas via software 42 in an application, in particular in the control unit S2 or for the control unit are determined and selectively activated or blocked for processing. As far as the visibility of the terrain and the precision of the position detection allow it, the perimeter cable can become superfluous if a precise satellite navigation 44 detects and evaluates the position of the robot 3 .

To prevent an area section A2 from being switched off unintentionally when a robot 3 is present, it is preferably provided that the control unit S2, S3 evaluates an actual or virtual position detection 45 of the automated garden and landscape working device, in particular the robot lawn mower 3, before the control unit detects an area section A2 in the Workspace enabled or disabled.

The control unit S3 with switch 20 (which can also be designed as a relay) and the components sensor 30, logic unit 31 and timer 33 can be individually programmed and thus optimally adapted to the respective property. Programming can be done manually, via an app or a laptop etc. An integration into the local network, e.g. a WLAN, is just as conceivable as the installation of a communication device with its own data network, e.g. 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, etc..

• • Steigungen, die nur bei Trockenheit für den Roboter zu bewältigen sind;
• • Gebiete, die nur zu einer bestimmten Tageszeit gemäht werden dürfen (z.B. wegen Ruhezonen, Anlieferverkehr, parkende Autos, Diebstahl uvm.);
• • Gebiete, die zu gewissen Jahreszeiten nicht gemäht werden sollten (z.B. wegen Fallobst unter Bäumen, Staunässe im Herbst, zu viel Laub im Herbst, Blühende Rasenstreifen für Bienen etc. - werden erst nach der Blüte abgemäht uvm.);
• • Enge Korridore, die nur bei Trockenheit gemäht werden dürfen (Strapazierung des Rasens bei Nässe);
• • Zur Staunässe neigende Gebiete sowohl in Senken, Ebene und Hang.

Practical areas of application for surface sections, which can be switched on and off appropriately:

• • inclines that can only be managed by the robot when it is dry;
• • Areas that may only be mowed at a certain time of day (e.g. due to quiet zones, delivery traffic, parked cars, theft and much more);
• • Areas that should not be mowed at certain times of the year (e.g. because of fallen fruit under trees, waterlogging in autumn, too many leaves in autumn, flowering lawn strips for bees, etc. - are only mowed after flowering and much more);
• • Narrow corridors that may only be mowed when it is dry (stress on the lawn when wet);
• • Areas prone to waterlogging, both in valleys, on plains and on slopes.

Reference List

1

Workspace

A1

first area section

A2

second area section

2

lawn area

3

Lawn mower robot / robot

4

conductor loop

5

floor area

51

Control unit robot

S2

Control unit charging station

S3

control unit

10

charging station

11

hillside

12

plateau

20

Switch

21

Contact point on conductor loop 4

22

Contact point on conductor loop 23

23

conductor loop

24

Contact point for jumper wire 25

25

bridging ladder

30

sensor

31

logic unit

33

timer

40

Internet / cloud

41

data signals

42

Computer program / computer program elements / software

43

control signals

44

satellite navigation

45

position detection

Claims (3)

Limiting system for controlling an automated gardening and landscaping tool, in particular a robotic lawnmower (3), the gardening and landscaping tool in a work area (1) assigned to it, e.g. a garden plot, and the work is controlled via one or more control units and control instructions stored there, e.g. working times or switching cycles, and the work area is divided into several surface sections (A1, A2) and a surface section in the working area can be activated and deactivated by the control unit, characterized in that one or more electrical conductor tracks are designed as at least a first closed conductor loop (4) around a first surface section (A1) and via at least one switch (20) and/or or a relay is used to bridge a region of the conductor loop (4) in such a way that a second conductor loop is created which is different from the first conductor loop by a second area section (A2). boundary system claim 1 , characterized in that one or more closed conductor loops are designed, in particular buried in or placed on the ground to delimit areas, and that different configurations of conductor tracks to open and closed conductor loops can be switched by at least one switching element, for example a switch or a relay . boundary system claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that a higher-level switch or a higher-level controller for detecting the presence of the gardening and landscaping tool, in particular the robot lawn mower, is included in a charging station or the like.

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