WO2019165860A1

WO2019165860A1 - Cleaning robot and operation control method therefor

Info

Publication number: WO2019165860A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/072008
Authority: WO
Inventors: 韩云学; 吴玉胜; 齐焱
Original assignee: 科沃斯机器人股份有限公司
Priority date: 2018-03-02
Filing date: 2019-01-16
Publication date: 2019-09-06
Also published as: CN110215153A; CN110215153B

Abstract

Provided by the present invention is a cleaning robot and an operation control method therefor. Said cleaning robot comprises a main body and a detection device provided on the bottom of said main body and used for detecting a surface edge, clearance or rim to be cleaned. Said detection device comprises a pre-detection component provided close to the front end of said main body. Said pre-detection component has at least two detectors arranged at intervals in the front-to-back direction. Said cleaning robot also has a control device, which conducts real-time detection when starting up operation using the detectors of the pre-detection component and determines if the area in front of the robot is a surface edge, clearance or rim to be cleaned, thereby controlling the cleaning robot to stop or continue moving forward. Employing the cleaning robot and operation control method therefor in the present invention may more accurately detect a surface edge, clearance or rim to be cleaned, thus preventing damage due to falling; and better route planning may be achieved, thereby improving cleaning efficiency.

Description

Cleaning robot and its operation control method

cross reference

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201101173986.0, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. .

Technical field

The invention relates to the field of automatic detection and control of a cleaning robot, in particular to a cleaning robot and a running control method thereof.

Background technique

Infrared detection and ultrasonic inspection technology are now used in the field of obstacle detection for products such as automatic vacuum cleaners and cleaning robots. Among them, infrared detection mainly calculates the distance by detecting the reflected infrared energy, the reaction speed is fast, no harm, and the price is low, but the infrared probe is susceptible to environmental illumination and obstacle material, which leads to inaccurate detection; ultrasonic detection The outdoor work is more reliable by measuring the propagation time of the ultrasonic wave between the obstacle and the ultrasonic probe to calculate the distance or judging the edge of the working surface according to the intensity of the received signal. However, by optimizing the overall layout, installation angle and working mode of the above-mentioned infrared probe and ultrasonic probe, it is necessary to overcome the interference of dust, water and mechanical vibration to detect the detection, and to obtain better detection results is still urgently needed to be solved. problem. In particular, for cleaning operations of inclined or vertical surfaces such as solar panels, building curtain walls, windows, etc., the cleaning robot needs to accurately detect the edges, gaps or borders of the surface to be cleaned, so as to facilitate path planning and positioning of the cleaning robot, and avoid It has fallen and damaged.

In view of this, it is necessary to provide a new cleaning robot and its operation control method.

Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning robot and a running control method thereof, which can more accurately detect edges, gaps or frames of a surface to be cleaned, prevent falling damage, and can achieve better path planning and improve cleaning efficiency.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cleaning robot comprising:

Host body

a detecting device is disposed at the bottom of the main body to detect an edge or a gap or a frame of the surface to be cleaned;

Wherein, the detecting device comprises a front detecting component, the front detecting component is disposed near a front end of the main body, and the front detecting component has at least two detectors arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the front detecting assembly has three detectors and is arranged in a triangular shape in the front-rear direction, wherein one detector is disposed adjacent to the front end of the main body; the other two detectors are disposed in the previous detector The rear side is distributed laterally to the left and right.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the front-rear vertical distance between the detector disposed adjacent to the front end of the main body of the front detecting component and the other two detectors is set to L1, and the L1 boundary is 30-90 mm.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the detecting device further includes a rear detecting assembly disposed near a rear end of the main body, the rear detecting assembly including at least two detectors arranged one behind the other.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the two detectors of the rear detecting assembly are disposed along the central axis of the main body in the front-rear direction.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the detecting device further includes a side detecting assembly disposed adjacent to a side of the main body, the side detecting assembly including at least two detectors arranged laterally and laterally.

As a further improvement of the present invention, a lateral vertical distance between adjacent two detectors in the side detection assembly is smaller than a front-rear vertical distance between two front and rear spaced detectors in the front detection assembly.

As a further improvement of the present invention, a lateral vertical distance between the laterally located detector and the innermost detector in the lateral detection assembly is greater than two front and rear spaced detectors in the front detection assembly. The vertical distance between front and rear.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the side detection components are disposed in two groups and are respectively disposed adjacent to left and right sides of the main body.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the detector is an ultrasonic probe, and each of the ultrasonic probes includes an ultrasonic transmitting end and a receiving end that cooperates with receiving a signal emitted by the ultrasonic transmitting end.

The present invention also provides an operation control method for the above cleaning robot, the cleaning robot further having a control device, the operation control method comprising:

Turn on the cleaning robot to run, and the detector of the front detection component performs real-time detection;

If at least one of the front detection components is capable of detecting a feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned, the control cleaning robot continues to move forward;

If the detector in the front detection component does not detect the feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned, it is determined that the front side is the edge of the surface to be cleaned, and the forward movement or steering is stopped.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the detecting device further includes a rear detecting component including at least two detectors arranged in front and rear; the running control method further includes: when determining the front side of the cleaning robot as the edge of the surface to be cleaned When the vehicle stops moving forward, the detector of the post-detection component performs real-time detection, and the detector that controls the cleaning robot to retreat to the front detection component can detect the feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned; stop back and turn.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the detecting device further includes a side detecting component, the side detecting component includes at least two detectors arranged side by side in a lateral direction; and the running control method further comprises sequentially opening and closing the sidewise control The detector of the side detection component, and when one of the side detection components is turned on, the other detectors of the group of side detection components remain closed.

As a further improvement of the present invention, it is controlled to open the side edge detecting component along the laterally outermost or innermost detector and accumulate its working time T1, close the detector, open the detector adjacent thereto and close the working time T2 and then close. Until the innermost or outermost detector of the set of side detection components is opened and their working time Tn is accumulated, and then enters the next cycle to open the outermost or innermost detector; wherein n is the set of side detection components The number of detectors that have.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the side detection assembly is consistent with each detector single working time T1, T2 ... Tn.

The invention has the beneficial effects that the cleaning robot and the operation control method thereof of the invention can accurately detect the edge or the gap or the frame of the surface to be cleaned by the real-time detection of the detector arranged in the front and rear intervals in the front detecting component, thereby preventing the damage from falling. And can achieve better path planning and improve cleaning efficiency.

DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic view showing the structure of a bottom surface of a cleaning robot of the present invention;

2 is a schematic plan view showing the arrangement of an ultrasonic probe of the cleaning robot of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing the operation of the ultrasonic probe of the cleaning robot of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. However, the embodiment is not limited to the present invention, and any structural, method, or functional changes made by those skilled in the art according to the embodiment are included in the scope of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic structural view of the bottom surface of the cleaning robot 100 of the present invention. The cleaning robot 100 includes a main body and a detecting device disposed at the bottom of the main body and used to detect a surface edge or a gap or a frame to be cleaned. The main body includes a cleaning body 10 and a walking body 20 that are disposed adjacent to each other. A cleaning assembly 11 is disposed at a bottom of the cleaning body 10; a steering wheel 21 and a traveling crawler 22 disposed on both sides of the steering wheel 21 are disposed at a bottom of the walking body 20. The walking track 22 is further provided with a plurality of vacuum chucks 221.

The detecting device comprises a front detecting component disposed at the bottom of the cleaning body 10, a rear detecting component disposed at the bottom of the walking body 20, and two sets of side detecting components disposed at the bottom of the cleaning body 10 and adjacent to the left and right sides of the cleaning body 10, respectively. . The front detecting component and the rear detecting component respectively comprise at least two detectors arranged one behind the other; each of the side detecting components comprises at least two detectors arranged laterally and laterally. In this embodiment, the detectors are each configured as an ultrasound probe 30, and each of the ultrasound probes 30 includes an ultrasound transmitting end 31 and a receiving end 32 that cooperates to receive a signal from the ultrasonic transmitting end 31.

The positional relationship of the ultrasonic probes 30 in the front detection assembly, the rear detection assembly, and the side detection assembly is better illustrated with reference to FIG. The front detecting assembly has three ultrasonic probes 30 and is arranged in an isosceles triangle shape in the front-rear direction, wherein one ultrasonic probe 30 is disposed adjacent to the front end of the cleaning body 10 and the ultrasonic probe is located in the front-rear direction of the cleaning body 10. The other two ultrasonic probes 30 are disposed on the rear side of the previous ultrasonic probe 30 and are laterally distributed laterally. When the main body is turning, the two ultrasonic probes 30 located on the rear side and distributed laterally to the left and right are more advantageous for finding the edge or gap or the frame of the surface to be cleaned in advance.

The front-rear vertical distance between the ultrasonic probe 30 disposed adjacent to the front end of the cleaning body 10 and the other two ultrasonic probes 30 of the front detecting assembly is set to L1, and L1 is defined by 30-90 mm. Preferably, L1 is set to 60 mm.

The ultrasonic probes 30 of the rear detecting assembly are disposed in two and are disposed on the rear side of the steering wheel 21. In addition, the two ultrasonic probes 30 of the rear detecting assembly are disposed along the central axis of the traveling body 20 in the front-rear direction and their vertical distances L2 in the front-rear direction coincide with L1.

The cleaning body 10 extends laterally beyond the walking body 20, and each of the ultrasonic probes 30 of the side detecting assembly extends laterally beyond the walking body 20. The two sets of side detection components are symmetrically arranged in a left-right direction. The lateral vertical distance L3 between two adjacent ultrasonic probes 30 in the side edge detecting assembly is smaller than L1, and the ultrasonic probe 30 and the innermost ultrasonic probe 30 located laterally in the lateral side detecting assembly The lateral vertical distance L4 is greater than L1. The lateral distance L3 of the adjacent two ultrasonic probes 30 is set to 18 mm, and the number of the ultrasonic probes 30 of each side detecting assembly is set to five, so as to avoid frequent adjustment of the direction of the cleaning robot 100 along the surface to be cleaned, ensuring Its walking stability.

In addition, the structural specifications of the ultrasonic probe 30 in the foregoing front detecting component, the rear detecting component and the side detecting component are all the same, the ultrasonic probe is 58KHz, the sensitivity is greater than or equal to -90db, and the foam protective cover is added during installation. Referring to FIG. 3, the height of the ultrasonic probe 30 from the working interface is H, and the distance between the ultrasonic transmitting end 31 and the receiving end 32 is d. Wherein, H is set to 55 mm, d is 30 mm, and the inclination angle α of the ultrasonic transmitting end 31 toward the receiving end 32 is set to 15°, so that the receiving end 32 can be smoothly received and sent out from the ultrasonic transmitting end 31. Ultrasonic waves after the interface is reflected.

The present invention also provides an operation control method of the above cleaning robot 100, the cleaning robot 100 further having a control device, the operation control method comprising:

The cleaning robot 100 is turned on, and the ultrasonic probe 30 of the front detecting component is used for real-time detection;

If at least one of the front detecting components is capable of detecting a feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned, the cleaning robot is controlled to continue;

If the ultrasonic probe 30 in the front detecting component does not detect the feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned, it is judged that the front side is the edge of the surface to be cleaned, and the forward movement or the steering is stopped; in order to avoid the fall damage that may occur during the turning of the cleaning robot 100, the post-detection is passed. The ultrasonic probe 30 of the assembly detects in real time, and the ultrasonic probe 30 that controls the cleaning robot 100 to retreat to the front detection assembly can detect the feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned; stop back and turn.

The operation control method further includes: when the cleaning robot 100 walks along an edge or a gap or a frame of the surface to be cleaned, the ultrasonic probe 30 along the lateral intermediate position of the side detecting component is used as a position standard, where When the cleaning robot 100 is normally walking, the ultrasonic probe 30 in the intermediate position does not detect the signal; if the ultrasonic probe 30 in the intermediate position and the ultrasonic probe on the inner side thereof detect the feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned, the cleaning robot 100 is controlled to External deflection; if the ultrasonic probe 30 inside the ultrasonic probe 30 at the intermediate position does not detect the feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned, the cleaning robot 100 is controlled to deflect inward.

The operation control method further includes sequentially opening and closing the ultrasonic probe 30 of the side detecting component along the lateral control, and when one of the side detecting components is turned on, the set of side detecting components is other The ultrasound probes 30 are all kept closed. Thereby, the signal interference between different ultrasonic probes 30 in the same side detection component is effectively avoided, and the reliability of the detection result is improved.

Specifically, the control method includes controlling to open the outermost or innermost ultrasonic probe 30 of the side detecting component and accumulating the working time T1, turning off the ultrasonic probe 30, and then opening the ultrasonic probe 30 adjacent thereto and accumulating the working time T2 After closing, until the innermost or outermost ultrasonic probe 30 of the set of side detection components is opened and its working time Tn is accumulated, and then enters the next cycle to open the outermost or innermost ultrasonic probe 30; wherein n is the side of the set The number of ultrasound probes 30 that the edge detection assembly has.

The cyclic working order of the left and right sets of the side detecting assemblies is set to be the same, and the side detecting components are consistent with each of the ultrasonic probes 30 for a single working time T1, T2, ..., Tn. In the present embodiment, T1, T2, ..., Tn are each set to 20 ms. The cleaning robot 100 of the present invention is suitable for cleaning operations of solar panels, building curtain walls, window glass, etc., and the solar panels to be cleaned are usually provided with a frame and gaps formed between adjacent solar panels; forming a building curtain wall or window A partition structure such as a frame is also provided between adjacent glass plates. Here, only the cleaning operation of the solar panel is taken as an example. When the walking body 20 walks along the predetermined path on the solar panel, the ultrasonic probe 30 adjacent to the front end of the cleaning body 10 in the front detecting assembly loses the signal and is located at the When the ultrasonic probe 30 on the rear side can still detect the feedback signal of the solar panel, the cleaning robot 100 continues to move forward; if the ultrasonic probe 30 of the front detecting component loses the signal, the cleaning robot 100 advances to the edge of the solar panel. Location, you need to stop. The front detection assembly has a detection accuracy of ±4 mm as measured in the field.

The side detecting component can quickly identify the edge, the gap and the frame of the solar panel by the cyclic operation, prevent the cleaning robot 100 from running off, and can avoid frequent adjustment of the direction; when the cleaning robot 100 deviates from the predetermined path, the two sides are controlled The walking track 22 is subjected to differential motion for correction. The ultrasonic probes 30 of the side detecting components can be cyclically operated to avoid signal disturbances between each other, thereby further improving the detection reliability.

In summary, the cleaning robot 100 and the operation control method thereof can accurately detect the edge or the gap or the frame of the surface to be cleaned to prevent falling damage; and can realize better path planning, prevent deviation, and improve cleaning. effectiveness.

It should be understood that, although the description is described in terms of embodiments, the embodiments are not intended to be construed as a single. The technical solutions in the embodiments may also be combined as appropriate to form other embodiments that can be understood by those skilled in the art.

The series of detailed descriptions set forth above are merely illustrative of the possible embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Changes are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.

Claims

A cleaning robot characterized by:

Host body:

a detecting device is disposed at the bottom of the main body to detect an edge or a gap or a frame of the surface to be cleaned;

Wherein, the detecting device comprises a front detecting component, the front detecting component is disposed near a front end of the main body, and the front detecting component has at least two detectors arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction.
The cleaning robot according to claim 1, wherein said front detecting assembly has three detectors and is arranged in a triangular shape in the front-rear direction, wherein one of the detectors is disposed adjacent to the front end of the main body; the other two detecting The device is disposed on the rear side of the previous detector and is laterally distributed to the left and right.
The cleaning robot according to claim 2, wherein a front-rear vertical distance between the detector disposed adjacent to the front end of the main body and the other two detectors is set to L1, and L1 is bound to 30-90 mm. .
The cleaning robot according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means further comprises a rear detecting assembly disposed adjacent to a rear end of said main body, said rear detecting assembly comprising at least two detectors arranged one behind the other.
The cleaning robot according to claim 4, wherein the two detectors of the rear detecting assembly are disposed along a central axis of the main body in the front-rear direction.
A cleaning robot according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means further comprises a side detecting assembly disposed adjacent to a side of said main body, said side detecting assembly comprising at least two laterally arranged detectors .
The cleaning robot according to claim 6, wherein a lateral vertical distance between two adjacent detectors in said side detecting assembly is smaller than two front and rear spaced detectors in said front detecting assembly The vertical distance between front and rear.
The cleaning robot according to claim 6, wherein a lateral vertical distance between the laterally located detector and the innermost detector in the lateral detecting assembly is greater than two of the front detecting components The vertical distance between the detectors arranged in front and rear.
The cleaning robot according to claim 6, wherein the side detecting components are disposed in two groups and are respectively disposed adjacent to left and right sides of the main body.
The cleaning robot according to claim 1, 4 or 6, wherein the detector is an ultrasonic probe, and each of the ultrasonic probes includes an ultrasonic transmitting end and a receiving end that receives a signal sent by the ultrasonic transmitting end. .
An operation control method for a cleaning robot, comprising: a main body, a control device, and a detecting device; wherein the detecting device is disposed at a bottom of the main body to detect an edge or a gap of a surface to be cleaned Or a frame, the detecting device includes a front detecting component, the front detecting component is disposed near a front end of the main body, and the front detecting component has at least two detectors arranged at intervals in a front-rear direction; the operation control method includes :

Turn on the cleaning robot to run, and use the detector of the front detection component for real-time detection;

If at least one of the front detection components is capable of detecting a feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned, the control cleaning robot continues to move forward;

If the detector in the front detection component does not detect the feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned, it is determined that the front side is the edge of the surface to be cleaned, and the forward movement or steering is stopped.
The operation control method according to claim 11, wherein said detecting means further comprises a post detecting component, said post detecting component comprising at least two detectors arranged one behind the other; said running control method further comprising judging When the front of the cleaning robot is the edge of the surface to be cleaned and stops moving forward, the detector of the rear detecting component performs real-time detection, and the detector that controls the cleaning robot to retreat to the front detecting component can detect the feedback signal of the surface to be cleaned; Turn.
The operation control method according to claim 11, wherein said detecting means further comprises a side detecting component, said side detecting component comprising at least two detectors arranged laterally in a lateral direction; said operation control method further comprising The detectors of the side detection components are sequentially opened and closed along the lateral control, and when one of the side detection components is turned on, the other detectors of the set of side detection components remain closed.
The operation control method according to claim 13, wherein the opening side detection component is opened along the laterally outermost or innermost detector and the working time T1 is accumulated, the detector is turned off, and the adjacent detection is turned on. And after the accumulated working time T2, close until the innermost or outermost detector of the side detection component of the group is opened and the working time Tn is accumulated, and then enters the next cycle to open the outermost or innermost detector; wherein, n The number of detectors that the set of side detection components has.
The operation control method according to claim 14, wherein the side detection components are identical in a single working time T1, T2, ..., Tn.