JP6780606B2 - Autonomous vacuum cleaner - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an autonomous vacuum cleaner.

An autonomous vacuum cleaner is a vacuum cleaner that cleans a house, office, or other building while traveling on its own. The autonomous vacuum cleaner starts running from the waiting place set in the building and returns to the waiting place when cleaning is completed. The autonomous vacuum cleaner is equipped with a sensor that can detect an obstacle or a wall for the purpose of preventing a collision with an obstacle or a wall and for the purpose of performing self-position estimation. The sensor has a detection range, and the range not included in the detection range is a blind spot. If there is a blind spot in the sensor in the direction of travel of the autonomous vacuum cleaner, it will not be possible to detect obstacles or walls in the direction of travel. Therefore, the autonomous vacuum cleaner strikes by matching the direction of the sensor with the direction of travel so that the direction of travel is included in the detection range of the sensor.

The autonomous vacuum cleaner described in Patent Document 1 includes a main body, four wheels provided on the main body, and a steering mechanism individually provided for each of the four wheels. By steering the four wheels individually, the autonomous vacuum cleaner can move in the front-rear direction, left-right direction, and diagonal direction without changing the direction of the main body, and further turns on the spot. Is also possible. For example, when the direction of travel of an autonomous vacuum cleaner is changed in a narrow passage, when the direction change position for changing the direction of travel is reached, a turn is made on the spot in order to point the sensor in the direction of travel after the change of direction. After that, start running.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-150044

By the way, when it is not necessary to perform cleaning, it is preferable that the autonomous vacuum cleaner moves quickly. However, the autonomous vacuum cleaner of Patent Document 1 cannot proceed while turning at the direction change position, and stays at the direction change position for a long time.

An object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous vacuum cleaner capable of shortening the time required for turning at a turning position.

An autonomous vacuum cleaner that solves the above problems corresponds to a main body, a suction port that opens on the bottom surface of the main body, a plurality of omnidirectional moving wheels provided on the main body, and each of the plurality of omnidirectional moving wheels. A motor for rotating the omnidirectional moving wheels, a control unit for controlling the motor, and a sensor provided on the main body for recognizing the environment within the detection range are provided by the suction port. An autonomous vacuum cleaner in which the control unit switches between a cleaning mode that strikes the floor while sucking foreign matter and a traveling mode that strikes the floor without intending to clean the floor. When the cleaning mode is set, in order to change the direction of travel at the direction change position, after reaching the change position, the direction of the main body is changed and the direction of travel after the change of direction is the detection range. When the motor is controlled so as to be included in the above and the traveling mode is set, the direction of the main body while traveling toward the direction changing position from a position before the direction changing position in the traveling direction. Is changed to control the motor so that the traveling direction after the change of direction is included in the detection range.

According to this, by using the omnidirectional moving wheels, the autonomous vacuum cleaner can change the direction of the main body while traveling. By controlling the motor by the control unit, in the traveling mode, the autonomous vacuum cleaner changes the direction of the main body while traveling from a position before the direction change position. Since the direction of the main body can be changed before reaching the direction change position, the time required for turning at the change position is shorter than when the direction of the main body is changed by turning after reaching the change position. can do.

Further, by traveling while changing the direction of the main body, the area of the floor facing the suction port is reduced in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the autonomous vacuum cleaner. Therefore, if cleaning is performed while changing the orientation of the main body in the cleaning mode, the area of the floor cleaned by the autonomous vacuum cleaner will decrease, but by performing the above control only in the strike mode, the area of the floor to be cleaned will be reduced. Can be suppressed from decreasing.

For the autonomous vacuum cleaner, the plurality of omnidirectional moving wheels may be omni wheels.

According to the present invention, the time required for turning at the turning position can be shortened.

The figure which shows the bottom surface of an autonomous vacuum cleaner. A block diagram showing the configuration of an autonomous vacuum cleaner. (A) to (e) are diagrams showing the relationship between the rotation direction of the omnidirectional moving wheel and the traveling direction. The figure which shows the traveling mode of an autonomous vacuum cleaner in a cleaning mode. The figure which shows the running mode of an autonomous vacuum cleaner in a running mode. The figure which shows the traveling mode of an autonomous vacuum cleaner.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the autonomous vacuum cleaner will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the autonomous vacuum cleaner (self-propelled vacuum cleaner) 10 includes a main body 20, a suction port 22 that opens to the bottom surface 21 of the main body 20, and four omnidirectional moving wheels (4 omnidirectional moving wheels) provided on the main body 20. (Hereinafter referred to as wheels) 30, 31, 32, 33 and. The autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is a vacuum cleaner that sucks foreign matter (dust) on the floor by the suction port 22 while moving on the floor by traveling on the floor by wheels 30, 31, 32, 33.

The suction port 22 has a shape that expands in one direction, and has a rectangular shape in the present embodiment. One direction of the suction port 22 is the longitudinal direction, and the lateral direction of the suction port 22 is a direction orthogonal to one direction. The longitudinal dimension L1 of the suction port 22 is longer than the lateral dimension L2. The suction port 22 may have any shape, such as an elliptical shape or a rectangular shape with rounded corners, which may have a long or short shape depending on the direction.

The wheels 30 to 33 of this embodiment are omni wheels. The omni wheel is provided with a plurality of free rollers on the outer circumference of the wheel, and the rotation axis of the free rollers is 90 ° with respect to the rotation axis of the wheel. One of the plurality of free rollers of the wheels 30 to 33 is always in contact with the floor. When the wheels 30 to 33 rotate about the rotation axis, the free rollers sequentially come into contact with the road surface, so that the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 strikes. Further, when the wheels 30 to 33 move in the direction of the rotation axis, the free rollers in contact with the road surface rotate to allow the wheels to move in the direction of the rotation axis.

The wheels 30 to 33 are arranged at 90 ° intervals with respect to the center O of the wheels 30 to 33 (the center of the circle connecting the four wheels 30 to 33). The four wheels 30 to 33 are arranged so that the rotation axis faces the center O. The wheel 30 and the wheel 32 are arranged so as to be point-symmetrical with the center O as the center point. The wheel 31 and the wheel 33 are arranged so as to be point-symmetrical with the center O as the center point.

Although not shown, a brush or the like for cleaning by sweeping the floor is also provided on the bottom surface 21 of the main body 20.
As shown in FIG. 2, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 controls four motors M0 to M3 that rotate each wheel 30 to 33, a cleaning unit C that operates members related to cleaning, and a control unit that controls the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10. A 40, a sensor 51 for recognizing the surrounding environment, and an image pickup device 52 are provided.

The wheels 30 are rotated by the drive of the motor M0, the wheels 31 are rotated by the drive of the motor M1, the wheels 32 are rotated by the drive of the motor M2, and the wheels 33 are rotated by the drive of the motor M3. Thereby, the rotation direction and the rotation speed (rotation speed) of each wheel 30 to 33 can be controlled independently.

The cleaning unit C includes a blower that generates a suction force by making the suction port 22 a negative pressure, a brush drive motor for driving the brush, and the like.
The control unit 40 includes a CPU (processing unit) 41 and a memory (storage unit) 42. A program related to driving the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is stored in the memory 42.

The control unit 40 (CPU 41) controls the cleaning unit C, that is, controls whether or not cleaning is performed by the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10. Further, the control unit 40 (CPU 41) controls the rotation speed and the rotation direction of the wheels 30 to 33 by controlling the rotation speed and the rotation direction of the motors M0 to M3 via the motor driver. As a result, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 can go straight, skew, and traverse while maintaining the orientation of the main body 20.

As shown in FIG. 3A, when the wheels 30 and 32 of the four wheels 30 to 33 are rotated in the same direction and the wheels 31 and 33 are rotated in the same direction, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 goes straight (forward and backward). The rotation direction of the wheels 30 to 33 is such that the thrust generated by the rotation of the wheels 30 to 33 coincides with the lateral direction of the suction port 22. Hereinafter, in this case, the direction in which the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 advances, that is, the lateral direction of the suction port 22, is defined as the front-rear direction.

As shown in FIG. 3B, when the wheel 31 and the wheel 33 of the four wheels 30 to 33 are rotated in the same direction and the remaining two wheels 30 and 32 are stopped, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is inclined. Go (go diagonally with respect to the front-back direction).

As shown in FIG. 3C, of the four wheels 30 to 33, the wheels 30 and 32 are rotated in the direction opposite to that when traveling straight, and the wheels 31 and 33 are rotated in the same direction as when traveling straight. When rotated, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 traverses.

Further, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 can turn on the spot (change the direction of the main body 20 without moving), and can move while turning (going while changing the direction of the main body 20). It is possible.

As shown in FIG. 3D, when the wheels 30 and 32 of the four wheels 30 to 33 are rotated in different directions and the wheels 31 and 33 are rotated in different directions, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is rotated. Turn (= rotate) on the spot.

As shown in FIG. 3E, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 strikes while turning (rotating) by adjusting the rotation direction and the number of rotations (rotational speed) of the four wheels 30 to 33. More specifically, it is autonomous by rotating two wheels 30, 33 out of the four wheels 30, 31, 32, 33 in the same direction and adjusting the rotation speeds of the two wheels 31, 32 to a predetermined rotation speed. The vacuum cleaner 10 advances while turning.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sensor 51 is attached to the main body 20. The sensor 51 of this embodiment is a laser range finder. The sensor 51 measures the distance to an object located in the irradiation direction of the laser by irradiating the laser while changing the irradiation angle. The sensor 51 outputs the irradiation angle of the laser and the distance to the object located at the irradiation angle to the control unit 40 in association with each other. As a result, the control unit 40 can recognize obstacles and walls existing in the detection range. The detection range of the sensor 51 of the present embodiment, that is, the laser irradiation range is 270 °. The sensor 51 is attached so as to have a detection range having an extension of 135 ° in the left-right direction with the virtual reference axis B extending in front of the main body 20 as 0 °. Behind the main body 20, there is a 90 ° blind spot that is not included in the detection range. The sensor 51 is for recognizing the presence or absence of obstacles or walls in the environment within the detection range.

As the image pickup apparatus 52, for example, a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor is used. The image pickup device 52 images the periphery of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10. Examples of the periphery include ceilings, walls, and floors. In particular, the ceiling is preferable to be used as an imaging target because there is little change in the environment.

The control unit 40 has a mapping function for creating map information. The control unit 40 creates map information of the environment in which the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is used from the information obtained by the sensor 51 and the image pickup device 52. The map information is created by using, for example, a portion of the information obtained by the sensor 51 or the imaging device 52 that can be a feature point (for example, a corner of a room). This map information is stored in the memory 42.

The control unit 40 has a self-position estimation function. As the self-position estimation, for example, a stochastic self-position estimation method is used. In addition to the information obtained by the sensor 51 and the image pickup device 52, the control unit 40 autonomously cleans the wheels 30, 31, 32, 33 (motors M0 to M3) based on the rotation speed and rotation direction on the map described above. The position (coordinates) of the machine 10 is estimated.

In the present embodiment, the control unit 40 controls all of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10, such as control of the motors M0 to M3, creation of map information, self-position estimation, and control of the cleaning unit C. A separate control unit 40 may be provided for each function.

Next, the drive mode of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 will be described.
The autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is driven by being operated by the user, or is automatically driven at a date and time designated by the user. The term "driving" refers to an operation involving a strike. When the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is not driven, it is on standby at a standby position. The standby position is a position where the charging stand of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is installed.

The drive mode of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 includes a cleaning mode and a traveling mode. The cleaning mode is a mode in which both the motors M0 to M3 and the cleaning unit C are driven with the intention of cleaning the floor. That is, in this mode, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is striked while a suction force is generated in the suction port 22.

The traveling mode is a mode in which the vehicle travels unintentionally to clean the floor. The traveling mode includes, for example, a mode in which the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 that has started cleaning from the standby position finishes cleaning and returns to the standby position, or when moving to a point that has passed the once cleaned point and has not finished cleaning. Mode etc. are included. The traveling mode of the present embodiment is a mode in which the cleaning unit C is not driven and only the motors M0 to M3 are driven. That is, it is a mode in which the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 strikes in a state where no suction force is generated in the suction port 22.

The control unit 40 switches between the cleaning mode and the traveling mode. The control unit 40 sets the cleaning mode when it is necessary to clean the floor, and sets the traveling mode when it is not necessary to clean the floor but it is necessary to strike.

Next, the strike control performed by the control unit 40 will be described together with the operation of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10.
As shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 runs on the floor of the L-shaped passage A where the straight first passage A1 and the straight second passage A2 intersect at right angles. On the floor of the passage A, the point where the first passage A1 and the second passage A2 intersect is set as the direction change position A3. The direction change position A3 is a position where the traveling direction of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 needs to be changed. Since the first passage A1 and the second passage A2 intersect at a right angle, it is necessary to change the traveling direction of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 by 90 ° at the direction change position A3.

First, a case where the cleaning mode is set and the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 heads from the first passage A1 to the second passage A2 will be described. When the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is traveling in the first passage A1, the control unit 40 advances the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10. That is, the traveling direction of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 and the longitudinal direction of the suction port 22 are orthogonal to each other, and the traveling direction of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is included in the detection range of the sensor 51 (so that the traveling direction and the reference axis B coincide with each other). The autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 travels in the first passage A1. The control unit 40 advances the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 up to the direction change position A3.

When the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 reaches the direction change position A3, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 turns on the spot to change the direction of the main body 20. The control unit 40 turns so that the front of the main body 20 faces the second passage A2, that is, the detection range of the sensor 51 includes the traveling direction after the direction change. As described above, by controlling the rotation direction and the number of rotations of the motors M0 to M3, it is possible to change the traveling direction from the first passage A1 to the second passage A2 without changing the direction of the main body 20. However, since it is necessary to orient the sensor 51 in the direction of travel after the direction change, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 makes a turn. When the control unit 40 changes the direction of the main body 20, the control unit 40 advances the second passage A2.

Next, a case where the traveling mode is set and the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 heads from the second passage A2 to the first passage A1 will be described.
When the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 returns to the standby position after cleaning is completed, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 moves from the second passage A2 to the first passage A1. Since the second passage A2 and the first passage A1 have been cleaned, there is no need to clean them, and the control unit 40 sets the traveling mode.

The autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 advances in the second passage A2. Then, the control unit 40 grasps the distance from the current location to the direction change position A3 based on the map information and the self-position estimation. The control unit 40 starts turning when the distance from the current position to the direction change position A3 falls below the threshold value while advancing in the second passage A2. Therefore, the turn is started before reaching the direction change position A3. The threshold value is set based on the traveling speed of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 and the turning speed, and is set to a value such that the detection range faces the second passage A2 when the direction change position A3 is reached. To.

The control unit 40 advances the second passage A2 toward the direction change position A3 while changing the direction of the main body 20 so that the traveling direction after the direction change is included in the detection range of the sensor 51. In the present embodiment, the sensor 51 (reference axis B) faces the first passage A1 when the direction change position A3 is reached.

As shown by reference numeral P1 in FIG. 5, by turning while advancing, the traveling direction and the longitudinal direction of the suction port 22 are not orthogonal to each other. Then, the area of the floor facing the suction port 22 decreases with respect to the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10, and the ratio of the suction port 22 to the passage width decreases. If the floor is being cleaned, the area of the floor that can be cleaned is reduced by turning and advancing at the same time. However, in the traveling mode, since cleaning is not intended, there is no effect on cleaning because the longitudinal direction of the suction port 22 and the traveling direction are not orthogonal to each other.

Therefore, according to the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) By using the omnidirectional moving wheels 30, 31, 32, 33, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 can turn while advancing, and when turning on the spot after reaching the direction change position A3. In comparison, the time required for turning at the direction change position A3 can be shortened. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the strike time required for the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 that has started cleaning from the standby position to return to the standby position.

Further, by traveling while turning, the longitudinal direction of the suction port 22 is tilted with respect to the traveling direction, but since traveling while turning is only in the traveling mode, the suction port 22 is traveling with respect to the traveling direction. It is suppressed that the area of the floor to be cleaned is reduced due to the inclination of the longitudinal direction.

Therefore, by changing the control when changing the traveling direction at the direction changing position A3 according to the mode, the strike time by the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 can be reduced without affecting the cleaning.

The embodiment may be changed as follows.
○ As the wheels 30, 31, 32, 33, other than the omni wheel may be used as long as the traveling direction can be changed while maintaining the orientation of the main body 20. For example, a Mecanum wheel or an omniball may be used. In the Mecanum wheel, the rotation axis of the free roller is about 45 ° with respect to the rotation axis of the wheel. The omni ball passively rotates two hemispherical wheels.

○ The number of wheels may be 3 or more, and may be changed as appropriate. Further, the number of motors M0 to M3 is changed according to the number of wheels.
○ As the sensor 51, an optical sensor or the like may be used.

○ If the map information of the environment in which the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 is used is stored in the memory 42 in advance, the control unit 40 does not have to have the mapping function.
○ If the self-position can be estimated by the sensor 51 such as a laser range finder, the image pickup device 52 may not be provided.

○ In the embodiment, the direction change position A3 is the intersection of the first passage A1 and the second passage A2, that is, the corner of the passage A is the direction change position A3, but the direction change position A3 is not limited to this. ..

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, in a room F having a square shape in a plan view, it is assumed that a standby position BC is set at one of the four corners. It is assumed that the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 finishes cleaning and returns to the standby position BC from the corner C1 located diagonally to the standby position BC. As described above, since the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 can also be slanted, it is possible to reach the standby position BC by the shortest route by slanting from the corner C1 toward the standby position BC. However, when passing through the shortest route, it passes through the center of the room F, which may hinder the movement of people in the room F. Therefore, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 moves along the wall of the room F and heads to the standby position BC.

In this case, it moves from the corner C1 to the corner C2 adjacent to the corner C1 and moves from the corner C2 toward the standby position BC. Since the direction from the corner C1 to the corner C2 is different from the direction from the corner C2 to the standby position BC, the autonomous vacuum cleaner 10 changes the direction at the corner C2. Therefore, the corner C2 is the turning position.

○ In the traveling mode, the control unit 40 may drive the cleaning unit C. In this case, the area to be cleaned decreases when turning and strike are performed at the same time, but since the traveling mode is not the mode intended for cleaning, it does not affect the cleaning of the floor. That is, it does not matter whether or not the cleaning unit C is driven, as long as the time required for returning to the standby position or passing through the cleaned place can be shortened.

○ When the control unit 40 changes the direction of travel at the direction change position A3, it suffices if the control unit 40 can start turning from a position before the direction change position A3, and the turn is not completed when the direction change position A3 is reached. You may. Even in this case, the traveling time can be shortened by starting the turn at a position before the direction change position A3.

M0 to M3 ... motor, 10 ... autonomous vacuum cleaner, 20 ... main body, 21 ... bottom surface, 22 ... suction port, 30 to 33 ... omnidirectional moving wheels, 40 ... control unit, 51 ... sensor.

Claims (2)

With the main body
A suction port that opens on the bottom of the main body and
A plurality of omnidirectional moving wheels provided on the main body,
A motor provided corresponding to each of the plurality of omnidirectional moving wheels and rotating the omnidirectional moving wheels,
A control unit that controls the motor and
A sensor provided in the main body for recognizing the environment within the detection range is provided.
An autonomous vacuum cleaner in which the control unit switches between a cleaning mode in which a foreign object is sucked by the suction port and the floor is struck, and a traveling mode in which the floor is struck without intention of cleaning the floor.
The control unit
When the cleaning mode is set, in order to change the traveling direction at the direction changing position, after reaching the direction changing position, the direction of the main body is changed and the traveling direction after the direction change is the detection range. Control the motor so that it is included in
When the traveling mode is set, after the direction is changed within the detection range by changing the direction of the main body while striking toward the direction changing position from a position before the direction changing position in the traveling direction. An autonomous vacuum cleaner that controls the motor so as to include the direction of travel. The autonomous vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of omnidirectional moving wheels are omni wheels.