KR20070102197A - Intelligent robot cleaner and its driving method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an intelligent robot cleaner and its driving method, wherein the intelligent robot cleaner checks the current position information, and when the intelligent robot cleaner is in the automatic cleaning mode, an optimal cleaning path according to the tabled position information and the collected environmental information is provided. And the cleaning method, and loads the cleaning path determined to operate the robot cleaner based on the cleaning path, and updates the location information and environmental information of the robot cleaner in real time as the robot cleaner operates, If it is determined that the completed position is set to the updated position information and environmental information as the optimal position information and environmental information, characterized in that to return the robot cleaner to the initial position. According to the present invention, by using the location-based digital indoor map intelligently determine the optimal cleaning path and cleaning method according to the repetitive cleaning path and the surrounding environment information, it is possible to perform a more efficient and accurate cleaning function.

Description

Intelligent robot cleaner and its driving method {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING INTELLIGENT ROBOT VACUUM CLEANER}

1 is a schematic block diagram of an intelligent robot cleaner according to the present invention;

2 is a flowchart illustrating a driving process of an intelligent robot cleaner according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

100: environmental information collection sensor unit 102: location information collection sensor unit

104: information analysis and transmission unit 106: control unit

108: digital indoor map information table 110: robot cleaner driving unit

112: viewer unit 114: camera unit

116: wireless transmission / reception unit 118: remote terminal

The present invention relates to a control technology of a robot cleaner, and more particularly, to an intelligent robot cleaner and a driving method thereof suitable for remotely monitoring and controlling efficient cleaning management.

Recently, with the development of robot technology, robots have been developed and marketed in various fields. Among them, the cleaning sector has attracted attention as the fastest application of robot technology, and several companies are planning to produce or produce prototypes.

The robot cleaner has two driving pattern methods. The first is a random cleaning method in which the robot determines randomly the rotation and straightness by judging the presence or absence of obstacles only by the information recognized by the sensor. The second is the pattern cleaning method. The robot uses the simplest zigzag pattern to determine whether there is an obstacle based on the information recognized by the sensor and to find out the location of the robot itself and move it to a specific pattern and to clean it. do.

However, since the conventional robot cleaner driving method is a method of simply cleaning by moving the front, rear, left, and right sides by the sensor detection by a predetermined cleaning algorithm mounted on the cleaner, the cleaning is missing or very inefficient due to the collective cleaning. Was raised.

The present invention is to solve the above problems of the prior art, by using the location-based digital indoor map to determine the optimal cleaning path and cleaning method according to the repetitive cleaning path and the surrounding environment information (floor state, pollution state, etc.) The purpose is to provide an intelligent robot cleaner and driving method that can be intelligently determined.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an intelligent robot cleaner and a driving method thereof capable of transmitting and receiving a robot cleaner and a remote terminal equipped with a camera wirelessly to enable real-time remote control and monitoring.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, as an intelligent robot cleaner for unattended cleaning by moving the front, rear, left and right by the sensor detection, the environmental information collection sensor unit for detecting and collecting indoor environmental information, the intelligent A location information collection sensor unit for collecting location information of the robot cleaner, an information analysis and transmission unit for analyzing and transmitting the location information and environment information of the environment information collection sensor unit and the location information collection sensor unit in real time, and the information analysis and transmission Determining the optimum cleaning path and cleaning method according to the position information and environmental information transmitted from the unit to drive the robot cleaner, the location information and environmental information up to the driving completion position of the robot cleaner in real time as the robot cleaner is driven A control unit for updating to set optimal location information and environment information, and analyzing and transmitting the information The location information and the environment information transmitted from the table is tabulated, and provides the intelligent robot cleaner including a digital indoor map information table which is updated by the control unit the optimal location information and environment information of the robot cleaner.

According to another aspect for achieving the object of the present invention, the digital indoor map information corresponding to the location information is tabulated, and a method for driving an intelligent robot cleaner for collecting environmental information according to the running of the intelligent robot cleaner, the intelligent robot Determining the current position information of the intelligent robot cleaner when the cleaner is driven; determining the optimum cleaning path and the cleaning method according to the tabled position information and the environment information when the intelligent robot cleaner is in the automatic cleaning mode; Loading the determined cleaning path to operate the robot cleaner based on the cleaning path, updating the location information and environment information of the robot cleaner in real time as the robot cleaner operates, and Determining whether it is a complete position; and if the completed position, the updated position It provides an intelligent robot cleaner driving method comprising the step of setting the tooth information and environmental information as the optimal position information and environmental information, and returning the robot cleaner to the initial position.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of an intelligent robot cleaner according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, comprising: an environmental information collecting sensor unit 100, a location information collecting sensor unit 102, an information analyzing and transmitting unit 104, and a control unit 106. ), A digital indoor map information table 108, a robot cleaner driving unit 110, a viewer unit 112, a camera unit 114, a wireless transmission and reception unit 116.

The environmental information collecting sensor unit 100 serves to detect and collect indoor environmental information, and provides the collected information to the information analyzing and transmitting unit 104 described later. The indoor environment information collected by the environment information collection sensor unit 100 may be, for example, ambient information such as ground conditions, obstacles, humidity, dust pollution, and the like, and the environment information collection sensor unit 100 may include these surrounding information. After sensing and converting it into digital information, the information is provided to the analysis and transmission unit 104.

The location information collection sensor 102 performs a role of collecting location information of the intelligent robot cleaner, and provides the collected information to the information analysis and transmission unit 104 described later.

The information analysis and transmitter 104 analyzes the location information and the environment information of the environment information collection sensor unit 100 and the location information collection sensor unit 102 in real time and transmits the information to the controller 106 to be described later. do.

The controller 106 according to the present embodiment determines the optimal cleaning path and the cleaning method according to the location information and the environment information transmitted from the information analysis and transmission unit 104 to drive the robot cleaner, and the robot is driven as the robot cleaner is driven. It performs the role of setting the optimal location information and environment information by updating the location information and environment information up to the driving completion position of the cleaner in real time.

In the digital indoor map information table 108, digital indoor map information corresponding to the location information and the environment information transmitted from the information analysis and transmission unit 104 is tabulated, and the optimum location information of the robot cleaner is controlled by the controller 106. Environmental information is updated. The digital indoor map information table 108 may be, for example, a storage medium such as a flash memory, a hard disk drive, a USB memory, or a smart card. The storage medium may be selectively mounted according to the specifications of the robot cleaner.

Meanwhile, the robot cleaner driver 110 includes an actuator for driving the intelligent robot cleaner, and serves to actively drive the robot cleaner under the control of the controller 106 described above.

The viewer unit 112 is a means for displaying the digital indoor map information of the digital indoor map information table 108, the location information and the environmental information transmitted from the information analysis and transmission unit 104, for example, an LCD (Liquid). Crystal Display) can be applied.

The camera unit 114 serves to photograph the surroundings of the intelligent robot cleaner, and as described below, the information captured by the camera unit 114 is provided in real time to the remote terminal 118 through the wireless transmitter / receiver 116. Can be.

The wireless transmitter / receiver 116 wirelessly transmits the digital indoor map information of the digital indoor map information table 108 and the peripheral information photographed by the camera unit 114 to the remote terminal 116 and is provided by the remote terminal 116. Wireless reception of the selection information of the arbitrary digital indoor map serves to provide to the control unit 106.

The remote terminal 118 remotely connected to such an intelligent robot cleaner may remotely control and monitor the intelligent robot cleaner through the wireless transmitter / receiver 116. In this case, the remote terminal 118 may be, for example, a personal computer (PC) having a network environment, and the user wirelessly monitors the state of the intelligent robot cleaner or selects the user's digital indoor map information selection signal, that is, the user needs. Refers to a terminal capable of transmitting cleaning path information to an intelligent robot cleaner.

As such, the intelligent robot cleaner according to the present embodiment is an intelligent and ubiquitous wired / wireless robot cleaner employing a location-based digital indoor map.

Hereinafter, with reference to the above-described configuration, with reference to the flowchart of Figure 2 attached to the driving process of the intelligent robot cleaner according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the robot cleaner is driven in step S200 (S200), the control unit 106 proceeds to step S202, and the current position of the robot cleaner through the location information collection sensor unit 102. Check the information.

Thereafter, the control unit 106 proceeds to step S204 to determine whether the robot cleaner is in the automatic cleaning mode, and if it is in the automatic cleaning mode, the process proceeds to step S206.

In operation S206, the controller 106 determines an optimal cleaning path and a cleaning method according to the location information collected in the digital indoor map information table 108 and the environmental information collected from the environmental information collection sensor unit 100.

When the optimum cleaning path and the cleaning method are determined, the controller 106 proceeds to step S208 and step S210 to load the optimum cleaning path, and then drives the robot cleaner driver 110 based on the loaded cleaning path. Run the vacuum cleaner.

At this time, the controller 106 updates the location information and the environment information of the robot cleaner in operation as in step S212 in real time.

In step S214, the control unit 106 determines whether the optimum cleaning path is a completed position, and if it is the completed position, the control unit 106 proceeds to step S216 and the updated location information in step S212 and The environment information is set as the optimal location information and environment information.

After performing step S216, in step S218, the controller 106 returns the robot cleaner to the initial position of the cleaning path.

On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S204, if it is not in the automatic cleaning mode, the controller 106 proceeds to step S220 to determine whether it is a manual cleaning mode, and if it is a manual cleaning mode, proceeds to step S222 and the robot The cleaner and the remote terminal 118 are remotely connected through the wireless transmission / reception unit 116. As such, the external image captured by the camera unit 114 may be displayed through the display means of the remote terminal 118 by the remote connection between the robot cleaner and the remote terminal 118.

In addition, a plurality of digital indoor map information stored in the digital indoor map information table 108 may be displayed on the remote terminal 118, and the control unit 106 performs the wireless transmission / reception unit 116 as in step S224. It is determined whether an arbitrary digital indoor map is selected at the remote terminal 118.

As a result of the determination in step S224, if any digital indoor map is selected, the control unit 106 proceeds to step S226 to operate the robot cleaner based on the selected digital indoor map.

After the step S226 is performed, the control unit 106 proceeds to step S212 again. Since the process after step S212 is the same as described above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, the present invention adopts a location-based digital indoor map to set the optimal cleaning path and cleaning method for the robot cleaner, and the robot cleaner itself intelligently determines the cleaning path and the cleaning method from the first starting point to the completion point. To implement cleaning.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform a more efficient and accurate cleaning function by intelligently determining the optimal cleaning path and the cleaning method according to the repetitive cleaning path and the surrounding environment information using the location-based digital indoor map.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated concretely based on the Example, this invention is not limited to such an Example, Of course, various deformation | transformation are possible for it within the technical idea and the scope of a claim mentioned later.

Claims (5)

It is an intelligent robot cleaner that performs unattended cleaning by moving back and forth, left and right by sensor detection, Environmental information collection sensor unit for detecting and collecting indoor environmental information, A location information collection sensor unit for collecting location information of the intelligent robot cleaner; An information analysis and transmission unit for analyzing and transmitting location information and environmental information of the environment information collection sensor unit and the location information collection sensor unit in real time; Determine the optimal cleaning path and cleaning method according to the location information and environmental information transmitted from the information analysis and transmission unit to drive the robot cleaner, the position information up to the driving completion position of the robot cleaner as the robot cleaner is driven And a controller configured to update the environment information in real time and set the optimum location information and environment information. The digital indoor map information table corresponding to the location information and the environment information transmitted from the information analysis and transmission unit is tabulated, and the digital indoor map information table is updated by the controller to update the optimal location information and environment information of the robot cleaner. Intelligent robot cleaner comprising a. The method of claim 1, The intelligent robot cleaner, A viewer unit displaying digital indoor map information of the digital indoor map information table and location information and environment information transmitted from the information analysis and transmission unit; A camera unit for photographing the surroundings of the intelligent robot cleaner; A wireless transmitter / receiver for wirelessly transmitting the digital indoor map information and the surrounding information photographed by the camera unit to a remote terminal and wirelessly receiving selection information of an arbitrary digital indoor map provided from the remote terminal. Intelligent robot cleaner further comprising. The method of claim 2, The intelligent robot cleaner, the intelligent robot cleaner, characterized in that the remote control and monitoring by the remote terminal via the wireless transmitter / receiver. As a method of driving an intelligent robot cleaner that collects environmental information according to the driving of an intelligent robot cleaner, the digital indoor map information corresponding to the location information is tabulated. Checking the current position information of the intelligent robot cleaner when the intelligent robot cleaner is driven; If the intelligent robot cleaner is in the automatic cleaning mode, determining an optimal cleaning path and a cleaning method according to the tabled location information and the collected environmental information; Loading the determined cleaning path and operating the robot cleaner based on the cleaning path; Updating the location information and environment information of the robot cleaner in real time as the robot cleaner is operated; Determining whether the cleaning path is completed; Setting the updated location information and environment information as optimum location information and environment information if the completion position; Returning the robot cleaner to an initial position Intelligent robot cleaner driving method comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein The method, Connecting the robot cleaner to a remote terminal if the intelligent robot cleaner is a manual cleaning mode; Determining whether an arbitrary digital indoor map is selected through the remote terminal; Operating a robot cleaner based on the selected digital indoor map when a random indoor indoor map is selected; Intelligent robot cleaner driving method comprising more.

Images