KR102045002B1 - Robot cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

The robot cleaner of the present invention includes a main body having a lower opening opened toward the floor; A cliff detection sensor provided in the main body and including a light transmitting part for emitting light and a light receiving part for receiving light reflected or scattered by an object; And a reflector reflecting the light emitted from the transmitter to be emitted through the lower opening and reflecting the light reflected or scattered by the object to be directed toward the light receiver.

Description

Robot Cleaner {ROBOT CLEANER}

The present invention relates to a robot cleaner.

The robot cleaner is a device that automatically cleans by inhaling foreign substances such as dust from the floor while driving by itself in the area to be cleaned without a user's operation.

The robot cleaner also has a distance sensor that emits light toward the floor and receives the light reflected from the floor to measure the distance. The distance measured by the distance sensor reflects the depth of the floor, so The presence of a cliff can be detected, so it is commonly referred to as a cliff sensor.

However, in the conventional robot cleaner, an opening is formed in the lower part of the main body, and the light transmitting part of the cliff sensor is formed to face the opening, so that the emitted light travels straight toward the opening and reaches the floor. In the arrangement position of the cliff sensor should also be limited to the upper side of the opening, there was a problem that there is a restriction on the space utilization in the body.

In addition, since the cliff sensor must detect the cliff before the traveling wheels 61a and 62a for moving the main body for the purpose, the cliff sensor should be disposed at the front side of the main body, and sensors for detecting the obstacle in front of the main body. In addition, it is not easy to install the cliff sensor because parts such as a driving unit for driving the driving wheel are concentrated.

In addition, the cliff sensor generally has a considerable length in the light emitting or receiving direction because the lenses constituting the transmitting part or the light receiving part and the image sensor in which the light passing through the lens are formed are arranged along the emission or reception path of the light. Occupies a structure. Therefore, when installing the cliff sensor so that the light emitted like a conventional robot cleaner proceeds directly toward the opening formed in the lower part of the main body, the height of the main body should also be increased as the height of the vertical direction occupied by the cliff sensor becomes longer. In addition, the height increase of the main body causes a problem that the robot cleaner enters the bed or under the furniture.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to improve the emission or reception path of the light in the distance measuring sensor of the method of emitting the light, and receiving the reflected or scattered light from the obstacle to measure the distance to the obstacle, thereby improving the space in the main body It is used to lower the overall height of the robot cleaner.

The robot cleaner of the present invention includes a main body having a lower opening opened toward the floor; A cliff detection sensor provided in the main body and including a light transmitting part for emitting light and a light receiving part for receiving light reflected or scattered by an object; And a reflector reflecting the light emitted from the transmitter to be emitted through the lower opening and reflecting the light reflected or scattered by the object to be directed toward the light receiver.

The robot cleaner of the present invention includes a main body having a lower opening opened toward the floor; A cliff detection sensor provided in the main body and including a light transmitting part for emitting light and a light receiving part for receiving light reflected or scattered by an object; And a reflector reflecting the light emitted from the transmitter to be emitted through the lower opening and reflecting the light reflected or scattered by the object to be directed toward the light receiver.

1 is a perspective view showing a robot cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates a bottom of the robot cleaner of FIG. 1.
3 is an exploded perspective view of the robot cleaner of FIG. 1.
4 illustrates the position sensor of FIG. 3.
5 is an exploded perspective view of the position sensor of FIG. 4.
6 shows a control relationship between main parts of the robot cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 illustrates a situation in which a cliff is detected by the cliff detection sensor.
8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a mounting structure of the cliff detection sensor and illustrates a path in which light emitted from the cliff detection sensor is reflected by a reflector.
9 is a cross-sectional view showing the mounting structure of the cliff detection sensor showing a path in which the light reflected from the bottom is reflected by the reflector.
10 shows an embodiment of a cliff detection sensor.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but can be implemented in various different forms, and only the embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and the general knowledge in the art to which the present invention belongs. It is provided to fully inform the person having the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

1 is a perspective view showing a robot cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 illustrates a bottom of the robot cleaner of FIG. 1. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the robot cleaner of FIG. 1. 4 illustrates the position sensor of FIG. 3. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the position sensor of FIG. 4. 6 shows a control relationship between main parts of the robot cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 6, the robot cleaner 1 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 10 having a lower opening 10h opened toward the floor, and a lower part of the main body 10 provided in the main body 10. A cliff sensor 50 for measuring a distance to an object (for example, a threshold or a floor of a cleaning area) and a light reflected or scattered by an object or light emitted from the cliff sensor 50; Reflector 81 is included.

As the left wheel 61a and the right wheel 62a rotate, the main body 10 moves a zone to be cleaned (hereinafter referred to as a cleaning zone), and the dust or garbage in the cleaning zone through the suction unit 70. Inhale foreign substance.

The suction unit 70 may include a suction fan 72 provided in the main body 10 to generate suction force, and a suction port 71 through which air flow generated by rotation of the suction fan 72 is sucked. In addition, the suction unit 70 may further include a filter (not shown) that collects foreign matters from the airflow sucked through the suction port 71, and a foreign matter receiver (not shown) in which foreign matters collected by the filter are accumulated. have.

A driving driver 60 for driving the left wheel 61a and the right wheel 62a may be provided, and the left wheel driving part 61 for driving the left wheel and the right wheel driving part 62 for driving the right wheel 62a (62 in Fig. 3). ) Is a reference numeral for the right wheel drive unit provided on the opposite side of the left wheel drive unit 61). By the control of the control unit 90, the operation of the left wheel drive unit 61 and the right wheel drive unit 62 is independently controlled, such that the main body 10 is moved straight, backward or swiveled. For example, when the left wheel is rotated in the forward direction by the left wheel drive unit 61, and the right wheel 62a is rotated in the reverse direction by the right wheel drive unit 62, the main body 10 is rotated to the left or the right. The control unit 90 may control the left wheel drive unit 61 and the right wheel drive unit 62 to have a difference in rotation speed, thereby inducing a translational movement of the main body 10 that combines a linear motion and a rotational motion. The movement of the main body 10 through the control of the control unit 90 enables the avoidance or turning of obstacles. At least one auxiliary wheel 13 may be further provided to stably support the main body 10.

The main body 10 may include a main body lower part 11 accommodating the rotation driver 40, a driving driver 60, and the like, and a main body upper part 12 covering the main body lower part 11.

The transparent member 32 is disposed on a path through which the light emitted from the light transmitting unit 21 of the position sensor 20 or the light received by the light receiving unit 23 travels. The transparent member 32 may be fixed to the main body 10. The main body 10 may have an opening formed at a front side thereof, and the transparent member 32 may be fixed by the transparent member frame 31 installed at the opening.

The position sensor 20 emits light toward the obstacle to detect the position or distance of the obstacle. The position sensor 20 is rotatably provided in the main body 10. The position detecting sensor 20 may include a light transmitting unit 21, a light receiving unit 22, and a base 23.

The light transmitting unit 21 emits light, and may include a light source and a collimator lens that refracts the light emitted from the light source (L1 of FIGS. 4 to 5) to be viewed in parallel. As a light source, a light emitter for emitting infrared or visible light, for example, an infrared or visible light emitting diode (LED) may be applied, but a light emitter for emitting laser light is preferable. Hereinafter, the present invention proposes a laser diode as a light source. In particular, the light source using the laser can measure more precisely than other lights due to the monochromatic, linearity, and connection characteristics of the laser beam. For example, compared to laser light, infrared or visible light has a large difference in measurement accuracy depending on the surrounding environment such as color and material of the object.

The light receiver 22 may include an image sensor 220 in which a spot of light reflected or scattered from an obstacle (L2 of FIGS. 4 to 5) is formed. The image sensor 220 is a collection of a plurality of unit pixels arranged in a matrix form of mXn. Each unit pixel is realized by various light-receiving elements such as CdS (CADMIUM SULFIDE CELL), photodiode (PHOTO DIODE), phototransistor (PHOTO TRANSISTOR), SOLAR CELL, and photoelectric tube These light receiving elements convert an optical signal by light into an electrical signal. In addition, the light receiving unit 22 may include a light receiving lens (not shown), and light reflected or scattered from an obstacle passes through the light receiving lens and is refracted to form an image sensor 220. The light receiving lens may be composed of a plurality of lenses.

The base 23 supports the light transmitting unit 21 and the light receiving unit 22, and is provided on the main body 10 to be rotatable and liftable. The transmitter 21 and the image sensor 220 may be disposed on the base 23 while maintaining a predetermined interval.

4 to 5, the rotation driving unit 40 rotates the base 23, and transmits the motor 41 providing the rotational force and the rotational force of the motor 41 to rotate the base 23. It may include a power transmission means such as a belt, a gear. As the power transmission means, a pulley 42 connected to the rotation shaft of the motor 41 and a belt 43 for transmitting the rotational force of the motor 41 between the pulley 42 and the base 23 are used. It should not be limited.

The base cover 24 is coupled to the base 23 and rotated integrally with the base 23. Between the base cover 24 and the base 23, a light transmission passage 21a through which light emitted from the light transmission unit 21 passes, and a light reception passage 22a through which light received by the light reception unit 22 passes are formed. Can be.

Meanwhile, a supporter 25 for supporting the position sensor 20 may be further provided, and the base 23 may be rotatably supported by the supporter 25. The supporter 25 may be fixed to the lower main body 11 by fastening members such as screws or bolts.

The controller 90 controls the operations of the rotation driver 40 and the driving driver 60. According to an exemplary embodiment, the controller 90 may perform control of each unit constituting the robot cleaner 1 such as a light source (not shown), an image sensor 220, and a driving driver 60. For example, the controller 90 may include a microcontroller unit (MCU) for processing an electrical signal input from the image sensor 220. The controller 90 does not necessarily have to be configured as one control unit. Typically, the robot cleaner 1 may include a plurality of control units for the control of each unit, in which case the control unit 90 may be defined as some or all of the plurality of control units, each control unit is It is sufficient if they are connected to each other electrically or in terms of signal transmission and reception, and the arrangement of the spaces between the respective control units is irrelevant in defining the controller 90.

7 illustrates a situation in which a cliff is detected by the cliff detection sensor. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a mounting structure of the cliff detection sensor and illustrates a path in which light emitted from the cliff detection sensor is reflected by a reflector. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing the mounting structure of the cliff detection sensor showing a path in which the light reflected from the bottom is reflected by the reflector. 10 shows an embodiment of a cliff detection sensor.

7 to 9, the cliff detection sensor 50 includes a light transmitting unit 52 for emitting light and a light receiving unit 53 for receiving light reflected or scattered by an object.

The light emitted from the transmitting part 52 during the running of the robot cleaner 1 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 81 and then is emitted to the lower side of the main body 10 through the lower opening 10h. The main body 10 may be formed with an optical path 82 through which the light emitted from the transmitting unit 52 or the light received by the light receiving unit 53 proceeds, and the optical path 82 is integrated with the main body 10. It can be formed as. Preferably, the light path 82 may be formed to partition the other space in the main body 10 and the inside thereof so that the light propagating therein is not distributed to other spaces in the main body 10.

The principle that the distance to the object is measured by the cliff detection sensor 50 is, the light emitted from the transmitter 52 according to the distance to the object is reflected from the bottom or obstacle in the cleaning area and received again by the light receiver 53 Attention is drawn to the fact that the amount of light changes. That is, when there is a protruding obstacle B2 such as a threshold on the bottom B1 of the cleaning area, that is, when the distance to the object is relatively close, the light receiving unit 53 of the cliff detection sensor 50 receives the light. Since the amount of light to be used will be more than if the cliff (B3) is present, it is possible to determine whether there is a protrusion on the bottom (B1) or the cliff (B3) in the front based on this.

Since the lower opening 10h is located on the front side of the main body 10, in particular, on the front side of the driving wheels 61a and 62a or the auxiliary wheels 13, the lower opening 10h, such as the threshold B2 or the cliff B3, is located on the driving path. If there are obstacles, the threshold B2 or the cliff B3 can be sensed before the driving wheels 61a, 61b or the auxiliary wheels 13 reach these obstacles.

However, even if an obstacle such as the protrusion B2 or the cliff B3 on the floor is present by the cliff detection sensor 50, the robot cleaner 1 always avoids these obstacles (hereinafter referred to as 'avoiding driving'). I do not have to.) If a protrusion of the bottom is detected, since the protrusion is under the lower opening 10h, the bottom of the main body 10 will be higher than the protrusion, and thus, the protrusion may be carried on as well as the avoiding driving. Overcoming driving is also possible. The controller 90 has a predetermined distance corresponding to the maximum height that the distance from the bottom to the bottom surface of the main body 10 is shorter than the distance from the bottom to the protrusion detected by the cliff sensor 50, and that the robot cleaner 1 can ride over. Rather, if the drive is longer to control the driving drive unit 60, otherwise it can be controlled to avoid the running. Here, the avoiding driving includes not only turning the obstacle, but also moving backward.

When the distance to the object measured by the cliff detection sensor 50 is farther than the preset reference value in consideration of the distance to the floor, the cliff B3 is present. In this case, depending on the depth of the cliff (B3) it is determined whether to dodge or overcome. That is, the controller 90 may determine whether the cliff exists by comparing the distance measured by the cliff detection sensor 50 with the reference value.

For example, if the depth of the cliff B3 is shallower than the reference value, the controller 90 may control the robot cleaner 1 to perform the overcoming driving that continues under the cliff B3, and vice versa. It can be controlled to drive.

8 to 9, the reflector 81 reflects the light emitted from the transmitter 52 so as to be emitted through the lower opening 10h, and the light reflected or scattered by the object or the obstacle receives the light receiver 53. ) To reflect through. An inclined surface 82a corresponding to the inclination of the reflector 81 may be formed in the light path 82.

The transmitter 52 may be provided to emit light in the horizontal direction. In this case, the light emitted from the transmitter 52 is incident on the reflector 81 at 45 degrees. Therefore, the light reflected by the reflector 81 is reflected vertically downward and is emitted through the lower opening 10h. Hereinafter, the angle of incidence or reflection of light with respect to the reflector 81 is defined as measured with respect to the normal line N.

The light transmitting unit 52 includes an infrared diode, a laser diode, or a conventional light-emitting diode that emits light in a visible light region as a light source according to the type of light emitted. can do.

The light receiving unit 53 receives light reflected or scattered from the object to be detected, and detects the presence or absence, size, contrast, distance, etc. of the object by a large and small difference in the amount of light received. It may include a light amount sensor 530 for outputting the difference in the amount of light as an electrical signal according to the amount of light received. The light amount sensor 530 may include a photoconductor whose resistance value is changed according to the received light amount.

9, light reflected or scattered by an object is incident on the reflector 81 at 45 degrees. Therefore, the reflection angle of the light reflected by the reflector 81 also reaches 45 degrees and proceeds to the light receiving unit 54.

8 to 9, the light emitted from the transmitter 52 and the light received by the receiver 53 are parallel to each other. In this case, the light transmitting portion 52 is preferably disposed to face the same direction as the light receiving portion 53.

Referring to FIG. 3, in general, the main body 10 includes a circuit board 17 such as a printed circuit board (PCB), a position sensor 20, and a driving driver 60 in which various components are mounted. ), A support for supporting the running wheels 61a and 62a or the auxiliary wheel 13, and a supporting frame 31 for supporting the transparent member 32 are accommodated. In order to make the robot cleaner 1 smaller and lighter, it is important to arrange these parts appropriately so that the space in the main body 10 can be effectively used. In particular, the robot cleaner 1 is supported by a leg such as a bed or a table, and in the case of an obstacle providing a predetermined space between the floor, the robot cleaner 1 should be able to enter into the space and clean it. The height of the body 10 should be as low as possible.

However, the front side of the receiving space in the main body 10 has a structure that supports the position sensor 20, the support frame 31, the driving wheels (61a, 62a) or the auxiliary wheels 13 and the like, the cliff detection It is not easy to secure a space for installing the sensor 50. In particular, in the structure in which light is emitted directly from the light transmitting part 52 toward the lower opening 10h, since the cliff detection sensor 50 is inevitably disposed on the upper side of the lower opening 10h, the main body 10 is provided. Naturally, there are limitations in using my space.

However, the present invention has the advantage that the cliff detection sensor 50 can be disposed more freely in the main body 10 because the traveling path of the light emitted from the transmitting part 52 is changed by the reflector 81. to provide. Depending on the arrangement of the components in the main body 10, a plurality of reflectors 81 may be provided.

Referring to FIG. 10, the cliff detection sensor 50 may include a body portion 51 on which the light transmitting portion 52 and the light receiving portion 53 are supported, and the body portion 51 may be larger than the length h in the height direction. The horizontal length w is formed in a longer shape. Here, the horizontal direction is defined as the traveling direction of the light emitted from the transmitter 52 or the light received by the receiver 53.

If there is no reflector 81 and the light-transmitting part 52 and the light-receiving part 53 directly face the downward opening 10h as in the related art, the horizontal direction w shown in FIG. 10 is the bottom of the main body 10. From the cliff detection sensor 50 will be a height occupied from, but compared to the robot cleaner 1 according to the present embodiment can increase the installation freedom of the cliff detection sensor 50 due to the reflector 81, that is, Since the height h may be installed to correspond to the height of the cliff detection sensor 50 measured from the bottom of the main body 10, the height of the main body 10 is inevitably also increased due to the shape of the cliff detection sensor 50. It can overcome the conventional problem that had to be high.

On the other hand, the robot cleaner control method of the present invention can be implemented as code that can be read by the processor on a recording medium that can be read by the processor provided in the robot cleaner. Such a recording medium is sufficient to store data in a format that can be read by a processor. For example, there are ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like, and may be implemented in the form of a carrier wave such as transmission over the Internet. The processor-readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the code is stored and executed.

Claims (8)

A main body having a lower opening opened toward the bottom;
A cliff detection sensor provided in the main body and including a light transmitting part for emitting light and a light receiving part for receiving light reflected or scattered by an object;
A reflector reflecting the light emitted from the transmitting part so as to be emitted through the lower opening and reflecting the light reflected or scattered by the object toward the light receiving part;
A driving wheel for moving the main body; And
It is disposed on the front side than the driving wheel, and includes an auxiliary wheel rotated when the main body is moved by the driving wheel,
The lower opening is disposed in front of the auxiliary wheel,
A driving driver for driving the driving wheels; And
If the distance detected by the cliff sensor is shorter than the distance from the floor to the bottom of the main body, and longer than the predetermined distance, the driving drive unit is controlled to overcome the driving, otherwise the driving to avoid the driving A robot cleaner further comprising a control unit for controlling the driving unit. The method of claim 1,
The transmitting part emits light in a horizontal direction,
The incident angle of the light emitted from the transmitting part with respect to the reflecting mirror is a robot cleaner is 45 degrees. The method of claim 1,
And the incident angle of the light reflected or scattered by the object to the reflector is 45 degrees. The method of claim 1,
And the light receiver comprises a photoconductor whose resistance is variable according to the amount of light received. delete The method of claim 1,
The cliff detection sensor,
The robot cleaner disposed between the lower opening and the auxiliary wheel. The method of claim 1,
The cliff detection sensor,
It includes a body portion for supporting the light transmitting portion and the light receiving portion,
The body portion,
Robot cleaner which is longer in horizontal direction than in height direction. The method of claim 1,
The main body is formed with an optical path through which the light emitted from the transmitter or the light received by the light receiver proceeds,
The optical path,
And a robot cleaner for partitioning the inside of the light path and the other space in the main body so that light traveling inside the light path is not distributed to other spaces in the main body.

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