WO2018176680A1

WO2018176680A1 - Automatic lawn mower, positioning method therefor, and automatic lawn mower system

Info

Publication number: WO2018176680A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/092456
Authority: WO
Inventors: 翁磊
Original assignee: 翁磊
Priority date: 2017-03-28
Filing date: 2017-07-11
Publication date: 2018-10-04
Also published as: CN107087469A

Abstract

An automatic lawn mower, comprising: a lawn mower body (10), a fixed pile (20), a laser scanner (30), and a reflector (40). The laser scanner (30) is provided on the lawn mower body (10). The reflector (40) is provided on the fixed pile (20), or alternatively, the laser scanner (30) is provided on the fixed pile (20) and the reflector (40) is provided on the lawn mower body (10). Laser emitted by the laser scanner (30) can be reflected by the reflector (40) so that the laser scanner (30) can obtain the distance and angle between the lawn mower body (10) and the fixed pile (20). The distance and angle between the lawn mower body (10) and the fixed pile (20) are used for determining real-time coordinates of the lawn mower body (10). By applying the laser scanner (30) to the automatic lawn mower and using the distance measuring and angle measuring functions of the laser scanner (30), the coordinates of the automatic lawn mower can be determined in real time, so that a user can customize and plan the path of the lawn mower, and therefore, the problems in the existing automatic lawn mower of low lawn mowing efficiency and high costs are completely solved.

Description

Automatic lawn mower and positioning method thereof, automatic lawn mower system

Technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of household appliances, and in particular to an automatic lawn mower.

Background technique

The automatic mower can perform the mowing action under the manual operation. Compared with other smart homes, such as automatic sweeping robots, the automatic mower has a more harsh working environment. It usually works in the open air, and the grass is flat, the grass border is difficult to determine, and various accidents occur.

The existing automatic lawn mower, for example, the Chinese patent "CNS precision automatic lawn mower and its control device" disclosed in CN105230225A, which is received by a laser scanning transceiver on a lawn mower by setting two remote beacons The distance between the two remote beacons in turn calculates the coordinates of the mower; however, the setting of the two beacons increases the cost and complexity of coordinate acquisition.

Another example is the Chinese patent "automatic lawn mower" with the publication number CN104737698A, which is used to determine whether the lawn mower is running to the physical boundary by setting an ultrasonic transmitter, an infrared emitter, a laser emitter, etc. on the lawn mower. The path and direction of the mower. In this way, the position of the mower cannot be obtained in real time, and the physical boundary must be set, and the mowing efficiency is very low.

Summary of the invention

All the technical problems to be solved by the present invention are to provide an automatic lawn mower with low cost and real-time knowledge of the mower coordinates in view of the above-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art.

The technical solution adopted by the present invention is to provide an automatic lawn mower comprising: a lawn mower body, a fixed pile, a laser scanner, and a reflector; the laser scanner is disposed on the lawn mower body. The reflector is disposed on the fixed pile or the laser scanner is disposed on the fixed pile, and the reflector is disposed on the lawn mower body; the laser light emitted by the laser scanner can be reflected back by the reflector to make The laser scanner can obtain the distance and angle between the mower body and the fixed pile, and the distance and angle between the mower body and the fixed pile are used to determine the real-time coordinates of the mower body.

Further, the fixed pile is disposed in the area to be mowing or outside the area to be mowing.

Further, the fixed pile is a charging pile for supplying electric power to the lawn mower body.

Further, a data storage module is further included for storing the real-time coordinate values of the mower body.

Further, the data storage module is integrated in the lawn mower body or disposed in the remote server.

Further, a control module is further included for controlling the traveling state of the mower body according to the preset travel path and the real-time coordinates of the mower body.

Further, the control module causes the mower body to travel to the fixed pile when the lawn mower body completes the preset travel path or the mower body battery capacity is lower than a preset value.

Further, the laser scanner can be rotated on a fixed pile or lawn mower body.

Further, the reflectivity of the reflector is higher or lower than natural objects.

Further, the reflectivity of the reflector changes regularly.

The invention also provides an automatic lawn mower positioning method, comprising the steps of:

The laser scanner emits a laser;

The reflector reflects the laser;

The laser scanner obtains the distance and angle between the reflector and the reflector according to the reflected laser light;

At least one of the laser scanner and the reflector is stationary and the other moves as the automatic mower moves.

The present invention also provides an automatic lawn mower system comprising a plurality of lawn mower bodies, a fixed pile; the plurality of lawn mower bodies are each provided with a laser scanner, and the fixed pile is provided with a reflector; The laser light emitted by each laser scanner can be reflected back by the reflector so that the laser scanner can obtain the distance and angle between the lawn mower body and the fixed pile, and the distance and angle between the lawn mower body and the fixed pile. Used to determine the real-time coordinates of the mower body.

The invention applies the laser scanner to the automatic lawn mower, and uses the laser scanner to measure and measure the angle function to locate the coordinates of the automatic lawn mower in real time, so that the user can customize the path of the lawn mower, thereby The problem of low mowing efficiency and high cost of the existing automatic mower is completely solved.

DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic view of the structure of the present invention.

detailed description

The technical solutions of the present invention are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

Example 1

Referring to FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, the automatic lawn mower includes a lawn mower body 10, a fixed pile 20, a laser scanner 30, and a reflector 40.

The lawn mower body 10 refers to a main body structure having a traveling member and a mowing member. The lawn mower body 10 is generally driven by a motor, and the walking speed of the lawn mower body 10 can be changed by changing the rotation speed of the driving motor, and the traveling direction of the lawn mower body 10 can be changed by changing the direction of the driving motor. The angle of travel of the mower body 10 can be changed by changing the state of the motor of the steering mechanism of the mower body.

The mower body 10 cuts grass during travel.

How to plan the path of the mower (including the direction of travel, angle and speed) is the key to the lawn mower's efficient mowing.

There are two ways to plan the path of the mower: one is to set the boundary of the mowing area, and when the mower travels to the boundary in a certain direction, it will continue to travel to another boundary according to the preset angle and direction, and pass the boundary. Limiting the control of the path of the mower; secondly, using GPS-like positioning means to obtain the real-time coordinates of the mower, and thus remotely controlling the path of the mower.

In this embodiment, the second method is adopted, that is, the coordinates of the lawn mower can be obtained in real time, so that the user can customize the travel path of the lawn mower according to requirements.

Since the mowing area of the mower is usually relatively fixed, there is no need to employ means such as GPS positioning. In order to obtain the real-time coordinates of the mower in an area, it is usually necessary to set a fixed reference coordinate.

In this embodiment, a fixed pile 20 is provided as a reference coordinate.

The fixed pile 20 may be disposed in the area to be mowing, or may be disposed outside the area to be mowing, as long as it can be used as a reference coordinate.

In the present embodiment, a reflector 40 is disposed on the fixed pile 20, and a laser scanner 30 is disposed on the lawnmower body 10.

The laser scanner 30 rotates and scans on the lawn mower body 10, and each time the light emitted by the laser scanner 30 is reflected back by the reflector 40, the laser scanner 30 can acquire the laser scanner 30 and the fixed pile 20 at this time. The distance and angle then acquire the coordinates of the mower body 10 in real time.

The laser scanner emits an infrared laser pulse through the rotating lens, measures the time interval from the emission to the reflection to convert the distance value, and records the angle information of the emitted and reflected back to obtain the angle value.

The light emitted by the laser scanner can be infrared LED light or laser light.

The existing laser scanner is usually fixed at a certain position, and the hub of the stationary object is scanned for the length, width and height of the object to be measured.

The laser scanner can be a conventional two-dimensional laser scanner or a three-dimensional laser scanner.

There are many types of 2D laser scanners available, such as the LD-LRS Outdoor series laser scanner manufactured by LASE Industrial Laser Technology Co., Ltd., and the LJ-V7000 series laser scanner manufactured by KEYENCE.

Existing 3D laser scanners, such as the IMAGER 5010C 3D laser scanner produced by Z+F Company of Germany, and the 3D laser scanner produced by LDI (Laser Design Inc) of the United States.

The present application creatively applies existing laser scanner technology to an automatic lawn mower for knowing the coordinates of the lawn mower in real time. Its cost is low and the technology is mature.

The reflector may be a separate structure fixed to the fixed pile 20, or may be a material such as a reflective paint applied directly to the surface of the fixed pile 20 or a reflective paper attached to the surface of the fixed pile 20.

Reflectors are generally reflectors with a reflectance higher or lower than the natural target to prevent radar misidentification. Usually, materials with a reflectance much higher than the natural reflection target, such as microbead mirrors, reflective films, etc., are used.

The reflectivity of the reflector can also be changed regularly to be clearly distinguishable from natural objects. For example, the reflectivity of the reflector is arranged in a small length and a small staggered arrangement, or arranged in order from large to small.

Example 2

This embodiment differs from Embodiment 1 in that the reflector is fixed to the body of the lawn mower, and the laser scanner is rotated and scanned on the fixed pile.

Fixing the reflector to the mower body can reduce the weight of the mower body. At the same time, the paint or sticker with reflection effect can be directly applied to the surface of the lawn mower body, so that the lawn mower body can be used as a reflector.

The scanning of the laser scanner on the fixed pile is more stable, and the scanning effect of the laser scanner is not good when the lawn mower body is bumped.

Example 3

The difference between the embodiment and the embodiment 1 and the embodiment 2 is that the laser scanner further has a data storage module for storing real-time coordinate values of the mower body.

In another preferred embodiment, the data storage module can also be a remote data storage server. The laser scanner transmits the acquired real-time coordinates of the mower body to the remote data storage server via the wireless network.

Example 4

The embodiment differs from the embodiments 1, 2, and 3 in that it further includes a control module that controls the traveling state of the mower body according to the preset travel path and the real-time coordinate of the mower body.

The preset travel path is generally preset to be stored in the control module, and the preset travel path can also be changed in real time.

When the coordinates of the mower body are out of the preset travel path, the control module sends a signal to control the change state of each motor in the mower body, for example, changing the steering motor speed, changing the forward and backward directions of the traveling motor, and the like.

In this embodiment, the user can customize any preset travel path. There is no need to set the mowing area boundary. At the same time, the lawn mower body can cut the preset pattern on the grass.

Example 5

The difference between this embodiment and the embodiments 1, 2, and 3 is that the fixed pile is a charging pile of the lawn mower body.

In order to realize the automatic mowing function, the mower also needs to automatically return to the charging post after the grass is cut. In this embodiment, the charging pile is fixed by the charging pile, so that the charging pile is a fixed pile.

The control module causes the mower body to travel to the charging post when the mower body completes the preset travel path or the mower body battery capacity is below a predetermined value.

In the above embodiment, the automatic lawn mower only adds a technically mature laser scanner, which is lower in cost.

The present invention also provides an automatic lawn mower system comprising a plurality of lawn mower bodies, a fixed pile; the plurality of lawn mower bodies are each provided with a laser scanner, and the fixed pile is provided with a reflector; Every The laser light emitted by a laser scanner can be reflected back by the reflector so that the laser scanner can obtain the distance and angle between the lawn mower body and the fixed pile, and the distance and angle between the lawn mower body and the fixed pile. Determine the real-time coordinates of the mower body.

When the mowing area is large and multiple mowers are required to cooperatively mowing, the real-time coordinates of the plurality of mowers can be obtained by using multiple laser scanners corresponding to one fixed pile.

The laser scanner emits light;

The reflector reflects light;

The specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the spirit of the invention. A person skilled in the art can make various modifications or additions to the specific embodiments described or replace them in a similar manner, without departing from the spirit of the invention or as defined by the appended claims. The scope.

Claims

An automatic lawn mower, comprising: a lawn mower body, a fixed pile, a laser scanner, and a reflector; the laser scanner is disposed on the lawn mower body, and the reflector is disposed on the fixed pile Or the laser scanner is disposed on the fixed pile, and the reflector is disposed on the lawn mower body; the light emitted by the laser scanner can be reflected back by the reflector so that the laser scanner can acquire the lawn mower body and The distance and angle between the fixed piles, the distance and angle between the mower body and the fixed pile are used to determine the real-time coordinates of the mower body.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 1, wherein the fixed pile is disposed in the area to be mowing or outside the area to be mowing.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 2, wherein the fixed pile is a charging pile for supplying electric power to the lawn mower body.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 1, further comprising a data storage module for storing real-time coordinate values of the lawn mower body.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 4, wherein the data storage module is integrated in the lawn mower body or disposed in the remote server.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 1, further comprising a control module for controlling the traveling state of the lawn mower body according to the preset travel path and the real-time coordinates of the mower body.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 6, wherein the control module causes the mower body to travel when the lawn mower body completes the preset traveling path or the mower body battery capacity is lower than a preset value. To the fixed pile.
The automatic lawn mower of claim 1 wherein said laser scanner is rotatable on a fixed pile or lawn mower body.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 1 or 8, wherein the laser scanner is a two-dimensional laser scanner or a three-dimensional laser scanner.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 1 or 8, wherein the light emitted by the laser scanner is infrared LED light or laser light.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 1, wherein the reflectance of the reflector is higher or lower than a natural object.
The automatic lawn mower according to claim 1, wherein said reflector is reversed The law of the rate of change changes.
An automatic lawn mower positioning method, comprising: steps:

The laser scanner emits light;

The reflector reflects light;

The laser scanner obtains the distance and angle between the reflector and the reflector according to the reflected laser light;

At least one of the laser scanner and the reflector is stationary and the other moves as the automatic mower moves.
An automatic lawn mower system comprising: a plurality of lawn mower bodies and a fixed pile; wherein the plurality of lawn mower bodies are each provided with a laser scanner, and the fixed pile is provided with a reflector; The light emitted by a laser scanner can be reflected back by the reflector so that the laser scanner can obtain the distance and angle between the lawn mower body and the fixed pile, and the distance and angle between the lawn mower body and the fixed pile. Determine the real-time coordinates of the mower body.