JP2003534128A - Accessories for robots - Google Patents

Abstract

SUMMARY The present invention relates to a horizontally movable, downwardly biased appendage extending laterally from a surface treatment device, such as a robot floor cleaner. The robot's floor cleaner and / or accessories can use a disposable cleaning sheet, such as a dust cloth, wipe, sheet brush, etc., underneath or to every corner when approaching obstacles to be encountered. Can be cleaned, but does not substantially interfere with rotation about the axis of the surface treatment device. This appendage extends beneath low overhanging obstacles to remove debris and reach every corner that is not maneuverable or reachable by a robot floor cleaner.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to appendages that extend laterally from a moving surface treatment apparatus or other robot. In particular, the present invention extends laterally from a surface treatment device, such as a robot floor cleaner, and uses a disposable cleaning sheet, such as a dust cloth, wipe, sheet brush, etc., that is horizontally movable. Regarding downwardly biased accessories.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Homes and other places are elevated from the floor surface by a few inches. Similarly, with appliances and counters low, various appliances, furniture and similar items may be overhanging on the floor with legs or dingles. Dust, pet hair and other debris tend to collect under these objects, making it difficult to reach the area of the floor. Due to the height and size of surface treatment equipment such as floor cleaning robots, these equipment are generally prevented from moving under such objects to clean that area of the floor. Also, some of these surface treatment devices have design constraints, such as wheels designed to be high enough to rotate around the surface, and may be too high for the robot to reach such areas of the floor. There are things you can't do.

Furthermore, for moving surface treatment devices that need to be routed in an unorganized environment such as a dwelling, the ability to change direction by rotation about a vertical axis is advantageous. In order to rotate effectively in very narrow spaces, moving surface treatment equipment must have a substantially upright cylindrical shape about a central vertical axis. However, this upright cylindrical shape has the disadvantage that it cannot reach every corner of the room, or a similar sharply angled cramped floor space, because it can reach under such objects or every corner of the room. Are not desirable because rigid extensions that project horizontally beyond the exact cylindrical shape of the robot tend to prevent rotation of the device due to extensions that are blocked by these same objects. .

Co-pending commonly owned US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 580,083, filed May 30, 2000 by Kirkpatrick et al., Incorporated herein by reference, is a robot A flexible brush extending laterally therefrom is disclosed. However, these brushes do not collect or remove dust and debris from the surface and carry dust and debris from these hard to reach areas of the surface. These brushes
It just sweeps the dust up the path of the surface treatment module for later collection and disposal. Surface treatment modules can escape dust and debris because the brush does not sweep dust into the path of the module. Allows the robot to rotate about a vertical axis without hindering the robot's rotation or movement by causing the appendage to be caught on certain obstacles and blocked by certain obstacles. To sweep and collect dust and debris from these hard-to-reach areas of the surface to every corner of the room, such as under the overhang of the sofa and countertop, an accessory that extends laterally beyond the perimeter edge of the robot There is a need for things.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a robot having a peripheral portion. The appendages extend beyond the perimeter of the robot and optionally laterally outward from the perimeter of the robot. The appendages reach an area that cannot be reached by the part surrounding the outer edge of the robot. The appendages may optionally be biased downward and / or may be horizontally moveable with respect to the robot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS. 1, 1A, 1B and 2, the present invention is a horizontally movable, downwardly biased accessory for use with a moving surface treatment apparatus such as a robot. Regarding things. The robot is suitable for various surface treatments, a typical treatment of which is floor cleaning. In addition to floor cleaning, such surface treatments include, for example, "protective protection" such as dirt and soil protection, fire protection, UV protection, durability, mites and insect control, antibacterial treatment, etc. Included are treatments that provide benefits to floors and other surfaces. Other examples of such surface treatments include, for example, treatments that provide "aesthetic" benefits to floors and other surfaces such as buffing, perfuming / deodorizing and applying gloss. 1A, the appendage 10 of the present invention is movable in a horizontal plane and includes a body 12 which is biased downwardly toward its surface. The appendage 10 extends laterally from the proximal end beyond the peripheral end 24 of the moving surface treatment device 20. The appendage 10 ends at the distal end.

The accessory 10 is 5 cm to 50 cm and preferably 10 c from the proximal end to the distal end.
It may have a length from m to 25 cm. Attachment 10 is 0.25 cm to 20
It may have a width taken parallel to the floor, up to cm. The length and width of appendage 10 each define an aspect ratio. The appendage 10 may have an aspect ratio of at least 4 in one embodiment, and at least 10 in a second embodiment. The accessory 10 is
In the horizontal plane, it can move around the fixed point (e) as an articulating movement or a swiveling movement A. The fixation point (e) is juxtaposed or also coincides with the proximal end of the appendage 10. Alternatively, appendage 10 may move in translational motion (not shown) in either or both lateral directions B and C in the horizontal plane. In this alternative, the surface treatment apparatus 20 has an appendage 10 that is translationally attached to the robot to move the appendage 10 in one or both lateral directions.

With reference to FIG. 1B, the appendage 10 can also move in a flexion motion (D) in a horizontal plane. This bending motion can be accomplished by making the appendage 10 from a flexible material and fixedly attaching the proximal end 11 of the appendage 10 to the surface treatment apparatus 20. As used herein, the term "flexible material" includes all materials that exhibit either relaxant or elastic properties. As used herein, the term "relaxative" refers to a material that bends when a force is applied to it and does not bend back in the opposite direction without additional force in the opposite direction, i.e., the spring constant. Regarding materials that do not have. Relaxation is the opposite of elasticity. Non-limiting examples of relaxant materials include cotton strands optionally in a sheath, non-wovens, flexible sheet goods such as woven fabrics and tissues, and even common socks.

In contrast, when the term “elastic” is used herein, when flexed by an applied force, in the opposite direction, either naturally or under the influence of an applied spring, without the need for an external restoring force. It relates to a material returning towards, ie having a spring constant. A non-limiting example of a flexible material is a rubber material. Note that the elastic appendage 10 need not bounce back all the way in the initial direction due to hysteresis. Thus, as the surface treatment device rotates about its vertical axis, it swings the free end of the flexible appendage along a horizontal plane. Further, the horizontal movement of the appendage 10 can be motorized if desired, but is not necessary for the application of the present invention.

The flexible appendage 10 presents the advantage of simplicity of construction, any bending of this appendage may reach areas otherwise inaccessible and its flexibility impeded. An accessory may also reduce the possibility of restraining the robot's movement when encountering an object. The optional nature of the flexion relates to the location, direction, and / or amount of flexion that occurs in the appendage 10. With reference to FIG. 1C, if desired, the appendage may have a rigid stem 25 that conforms to the proximal end of appendage 10. The rigid stem 25 extends a relatively short distance toward the distal end of the appendage 10. The remainder of the flexible appendage 10 extends laterally outward beyond the rigid stem 15. The rigid stem 15 provides the benefit of ensuring that the flexible appendage 10 extends laterally beyond the perimeter of the robot and does not interfere with the movement of the robot.

2 to 3 illustrate one embodiment of a horizontally movable, downwardly biased appendage 10 for use with a moving surface treatment apparatus. In this particular embodiment, appendix 1
0 is integral with the seat holder 34, which is symmetrical to the above embodiment, where the appendage 10 is not integral with the rest of the robot 20. The seat retainer 30 has a rigid support element 32 having a first surface and a second surface, a plurality of seat mounting positions 40, the support element 3
Standard-compliant pad 30 and sheet holder connector 50 attached to the second surface of No. 2
Includes. The sheet retainer connector 50 attaches the support element 32 and the appendage 10 to the robot 20.

In this particular embodiment, the appendage 10 can be made of a flexible material, preferably an elastic or elastic material such as rubber or porous foam. Further, the seat retainer 34, the rigid support element 32, the compliant pad 30, or any combination thereof, is also made of a flexible material, preferably a resilient or elastic material such as rubber or porous foam. be able to.
However, the rigid support element 32 is preferably made of a material that is stiffer than the compliant pad 30 to provide more structural integrity to the seat retainer 30. With reference to FIG. 4, the appendage 10 has a top surface 15T, a bottom surface 15B and contains at least one sheet retainer container 40. The sheet retainer container 40 is one of many useful attachments for engaging the sheet and securing the sheet to the compliant pad 30. Adhesive, cohesive, frictional and mechanical interlock attachment systems are known in the art and are within the scope of the present invention.

In the preferred embodiment, the appendage 10 is biased downwardly through one or more reinforcing materials, ribs 14, that extend upwardly from the top surface 13 of the appendage 10. Due to the cross-sectional ratio, the rib 14 resists vertical movement more strongly than horizontal movement. In one particular embodiment, a single rib 14 may be located in the center of the appendage 10 or offset from the center, but the rib 14 is located along the peripheral edge of the appendage 10. Generally, the bottom surface 15B of the appendage 10 is substantially uniform. However, it is possible to use an open structure consisting of vertical ribs, which also gives similar results without changing the scope of the invention. The ribs 14 may be formed separately from the underlying permeable membrane 18. Accessory 10
A fluid-containing reservoir 19 may be placed in the appendage 10 to add weight to promote downward bias of and / or to distribute fluid through the underlying membrane 18.
In one particular embodiment, if a fluid-supported container is desired, vertically extending ribs 14
Is continuously molded as one part with the underlying membrane 18 and storage organ 19.

Horizontally relaxed chain-like structures, including but not limited to those similar to bicycle chains, and mop-like structures having horizontally elastic cores and a plurality of relaxed cords attached thereto. Other mechanisms that are horizontally elastic but vertically rigid, such as, may be used for the appendage 10, and the mop-like structure also provides a downward facing face that provides an animal-like appearance. It has a villous tubular tail formed around a central vertical rib with bias and horizontal elasticity. It should be noted that although the appendage 10 is depicted schematically as a triangle, its width, length and shape can be advantageously varied. For example, the rib structure has an opening on one side and may be used with a rotating robot so that the opening guides tail cleaning that can be used to scoop up large particles. Alternatively, the narrow and long tail can be used to reach further under large, low lying furniture and appliances. The tail may be tapered to reduce the occurrence of engaging obstructions during activity and to provide a more constant flexural stress throughout its length, as depicted in FIG. 1C, expanding at its distal end. It may have the additional ability to collect debris and may branch or split into multiple distal ends.

Returning to FIGS. 2 and 3, one particular embodiment of the sheet retainer 30 is a Kingley (
US Patent No. 409, assigned to Kingry et al. And incorporated herein by reference.
No. 343 is a substantially rigid sheet retainer. The sheet mount container is used to mount the cleaning sheet to a standard compliant pad and / or accessory 10 in such an embodiment. It is to be understood that the accessory 10 may include materials that are disposable, that is, discarded after use and not washed or restored, or may include materials suitable for cleaning and multiple use. Rigid sheet holders with disposable cleaning sheets, for manual use or for non-robot use, are well known in the art and have been assigned to Vosbikian and are herein incorporated by reference. No. 6,098,239, incorporated by reference herein. The Vosbikian patent is:
A typical rigid sheet holder intended for manual or non-robot use with a storage compartment for attachable cleaning sheets is described. The sheet mount container 40 in the preferred embodiment includes peripherally mounted, flexibly biased, separate sections so that by pushing a portion of the cleaning sheet between the sections, those sections are disclosed in the Bosvikian patent. Helps hold and secure portions of the sheet in place as described. It is contemplated that other devices may also be used to hold and maintain the sheet on the sheet holder. Under the name of Velcro USA Inc., Manchester, New Hampshire, USA, the microhook engages a cleaning cloth fabric such as a plastic microhook on a flexible backing sold as Velco®. Resilient mop head clips disclosed by, for example, US Pat. No. 5,915,437, by means of mating micro-hooks or by a tacky or adhesive surface coating. A peelable cleaning sheet, which may be a disposable dusting cloth, a damp wipe, a flexible brush, etc., is generally attached to the sheet holder. One particular embodiment of the seat retainer 30, seat mounting container 40 and cleaning seat is generally sold under the brand swiffer (R), Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Commercially available from

FIG. 3 illustrates one particular embodiment of sheet retainer 30. The sheet holder 32 may include a standard-compliant pad 30 attached to the second surface of the sheet holder 32. The sheet holder connector 50 is attached to the sheet holder 32. In this particular embodiment, the seat retainer 32 connector 50 includes a seat retainer connector rod 52,
That is, a male rod fixed to the sheet holder 30 and a surface treatment device (not shown)
It includes a spherical rod end 54 that is inserted into a female groove 58 attached to the. Alternatively, the standard-compliant elastic element 56 may be mounted inside the female groove 58. Spherical rod end 5
When inserting 4 into the female groove 58, the compliant elastic element 56 is displaced, which is the female groove 5
8 serves to hold the spherical rod end 54. The sheet holder 30 is pulled apart from the surface treatment apparatus 20 by pulling it away from the surface treatment apparatus 20. Many other attachment means known in the mechanical art include, but are not limited to, magnets, male extensions of robots that fit into the female groove of the sheet retainer, or threaded sockets and rods. It should be noted that it may be used in place of the ball and socket type attachment device. An alternative to the sheet retainer connector 50 comprises a spherical rod end 54 on the distal end of a male rod 52, where the spherical rod end 54 contains a permanent magnet. The surface treatment apparatus 20 has a socket attachment member 58 located on the bottom surface 24 and containing a second magnet material or a ferromagnetic material.

The sheet retainer 32 folds the cleaning sheet sufficiently long to cover the entire sheet retainer beyond the rigid support element 32 sheet retainer 30, and the end of the folded surface of the sheet is seated in the sheet mounting container 40. Used by fixing on and in. The longitudinal remainder of the sheet is folded back around the appendage 10 and the folded back end of the sheet is secured in the sheet mounting container 40, thereby covering the bottom surface 15 of the appendage 10. The sheet holder 30 is then attached to the surface treatment apparatus 10 by inserting the male sheet holder attachment 50 into the bottom of the surface treatment apparatus 10. The surface treatment apparatus 10 is placed on a surface to be treated, such as a hard surface floor, to advance a cleaning sheet in contact with the floor. As the robot reaches the overhanging obstacles or corners and rotates about its vertical axis, the appendages 10 cause dirt and dust in the unfitted corners of the surface treatment apparatus 10 and under the overhanging obstacles. By collecting and removing the cleaning sheet, the portion of the cleaning sheet overhanging accessory 10 is cleaned, and is biased downward from below the surface treatment apparatus 10 to be projected outward. The appendage 10 is downwardly biased but horizontally resilient and is pushed laterally horizontally by contact with walls and other obstacles that contact the floor.

By having an elastic fluid container attached to the attachment 10 if the cleaning mechanism to be used needs to dispense a cleaning fluid, abrading or other surface cleaning fluid or surface maintenance fluid. Or having a flexible fluid conduit from an externally located fluid container to an adjunct 10 at the top of the attached absorbent or refining cleaning sheet, or through which the fluid can be dispersed. Also, it should be noted that such fluids can be dispersed into or through the appendage 10.

The robot 20 is like a mop that includes a handle and a mop head, such as branded mops on the swiffer® marketed by Procter & Gamble. The surface treatment device 20 may be included. The accessory 10 is attached to the mop head. The surface treatment device 20 is movable, but can be controlled remotely by either being manually moved by a human as in the case of a mop, or by some form of autonomous control. In the preferred embodiment, the surface treatment apparatus 20 generally includes a chassis, a drive mechanism such as a motorized wheel located on the chassis, a moveable substantially rigid shell mounted on the chassis, when hitting an obstacle. An autonomous mobile robot that includes contact sensors that rotate the robot to carry it away in other directions, and optionally several sensors, such as infrared sensors, that alert the robot that a collision is imminent. Such a device is described in co-pending and commonly owned US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 580,083, filed May 30, 2000 by Kirkpatrick et al. And incorporated herein by reference. There is.

Although these embodiments have been described with a single appendage 10, multiple appendages 10 may be used with a single robot 20. The plurality of appendages 10 may be evenly or unevenly spaced circumferentially from one another. Similarly, a plurality of accessories 10
May be of equal or unequal length and may have features of equal or different design. While we have shown and described specific cases and embodiments of the present invention, various modifications can be made to robots, sheet retainers and accessories without departing from the teachings of the present invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a bottom perspective view of a robot according to the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 1A is a fragmentary view of a robot with articulation mounted attachments according to the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a fragmentary view of a robot with flexible attachments according to the present invention.

FIG. 1C is a fragmentary view of a robot with a flexible appendage according to the present invention with a partial cutaway surface to reveal an optional rigid stem.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of one exemplary robot according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the accessory taken along line 4-4 of FIG.

[Procedure for Amendment] Submission for translation of Article 34 Amendment of Patent Cooperation Treaty

[Submission date] February 8, 2002 (2002.2.8)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Contents of correction]

[Claims]

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Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An appendage extending laterally from a moving device to treat a surface, the appendage comprising a body including a first side and a second side, the body being a horizontal plane. An accessory that is movable in and that is biased downwardly toward the treatment surface to bring the second surface of the body into contact with the treatment surface to collect dust and debris from the treatment surface. 2. The accessory of claim 1, wherein the body is made of a flexible material. 3. The appendage of claim 2, wherein the flexible material is elastic. 4. The accessory according to claim 1, wherein the accessory is pivotally attached to the robot. 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the appendage is translatably attached to the robot such that the appendage is capable of translational movement in a horizontal plane with respect to the apparatus. 6. The first surface has a rim disposed along a peripheral edge of the body, the rim extending upwardly from the first surface, whereby the rim faces downwardly of the body. The appendage of claim 1, wherein the appendage provides a bias. 7. The appendage of claim 2, wherein the body has a height less than about 15.5 cm. 8. The adjunct according to claim 1, wherein the adjunct has an aspect ratio of at least 4. 9. An appendage extending laterally from a transfer device for treating a surface, the appendage being a body including a top surface and a bottom surface, the body being a horizontal plane. At least one sheet retainer connector attached to the top surface of the body, and a standard-compliant body attached to the bottom surface of the body. An adjunct, comprising a pad and a cleaning sheet, whereby the downwardly biased body causes the sheet to compliantly contact the surface and collect dust and debris from the surface. 10. The top surface of the body includes a lip disposed along a peripheral edge of the body, the lip extending upwardly from the top surface, whereby the lip faces downward of the body. 9. The appendage of claim 8 which provides a bias of 11. The appendage of claim 10, wherein the body is made of a flexible material. 12. The flexible material is elastic.
The accessory described in 2. 13. The accessory according to claim 10, wherein the accessory is pivotally attached to the robot. 14. The accessory of claim 10, wherein the body is telescoping. 15. The accessory of claim 12, wherein the body of the accessory is integral with a seat retainer body located under the moving device.