JP2016077854A - Autonomous travel-type cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an autonomous travel-type cleaner capable of picking up a lot of rubbish accumulated in a corner by reciprocation when the autonomous travel-type cleaner comes to the corner.SOLUTION: Upon determining that a corner has been detected in step S2, a control unit 70 starts cleaning of the corner by reciprocating a housing in step S3. Upon determining that a rubbish sensor 300 has not detected any rubbish in step S4, the control unit ends the cleaning of the corner in step S5. On the other hand, upon determining that the rubbish sensor 300 has detected rubbish in step S4, the control unit continues the cleaning of the corner by reciprocating the housing in step S6.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 30

Description

  The present invention relates to an autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner.

  A self-propelled cleaner is equipped with a body with various components, a drive unit that moves the body, a main brush that is placed in the suction port formed in the body and collects dust on the cleaning surface, and a body suction It has a suction unit that sucks garbage from the mouth. As disclosed in many documents including Patent Document 1, the body has an approximately circular shape. This shape of the body provides high turning performance for the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner.

  On the other hand, according to the conventional autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner having a circular body, a relatively large space is formed between the suction port of the body and the tip of the corner even when approaching the corner of the target area to the limit. The For this reason, the dust present at the corners of the target area may not be sufficiently sucked by the suction unit.

  In order to solve this problem, the improved conventional autonomous traveling cleaner further includes one or more side brushes disposed on the bottom surface of the body. Such autonomously traveling vacuum cleaners are disclosed in Patent Documents 2 to 4, for example. The side brush has a bundle of bristle that protrudes outside the outline of the body, and collects dust existing outside the outline of the body at the inlet of the body by the bundle of bristle. For this reason, the autonomous running type vacuum cleaner of patent documents 2-4 can attract more dust which exists in the corner of an object field.

JP 2009-093514 A JP 2012-183367 A JP 2012-231937 A JP 2013-146303 A JP, 2014-061375, A

  According to the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaners of Patent Documents 2 to 4, the ability to suck dust existing in the corners of the target area (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “corner cleaning ability”) is mainly achieved by the side brush. It can be decided. On the other hand, since the length of the bristle bundle is set under various constraints, the corner cleaning ability obtained based on the side brush is also affected by the constraints. For this reason, the autonomous running type vacuum cleaners of Patent Documents 2 to 4 have room for improvement with respect to corner cleaning ability.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 5 discloses an example of an autonomously traveling cleaner that is further improved with respect to corner cleaning ability. This autonomously traveling cleaner includes a body having an approximately D shape, a suction port formed on the bottom surface of the body, and a pair of side brushes attached to corners of the bottom surface of the body. When this autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner is located at the corner of the target area, for example, compared to the case where the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaners of Patent Documents 2 to 4 are located at the corner of the target area, the side brush shaft and the body suction The mouth is closer to the corner apex. For this reason, it becomes easy for the body to suck more garbage.

However, when the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of Patent Document 5 is located at a corner of the target area, the front surface and one side surface of the body are in contact with the wall forming the corner, or the wall is approached to the same extent as that. Can't rotate in that place. For this reason, the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner of Patent Document 5 imposes a relatively large restriction on the trajectory when moving from the corner to another place after the corner of the target area has been cleaned.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner that efficiently cleans the dust present at the corners of the target area until no dust is left.

  An autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to one aspect of the present invention includes an angle detection unit that detects a corner, a drive unit that drives the casing to reciprocate, a dust detection unit that detects dust, a control unit, When the control means determines that the angle detection means has detected an angle, the control means controls the drive means to perform a predetermined number of reciprocating motions, and the predetermined number of times is determined. Even if it is determined that the dust detection means has detected dust after the reciprocating motion, the corner cleaning is ended.

  One form of the autonomous traveling cleaner can provide an autonomous traveling cleaner that can clean the entire room within a limited time.

Is a front view of the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner of the first embodiment Is a bottom view of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is a block diagram of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is an operation diagram showing a state where a conventional autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner has reached the corner Is an operation diagram showing a state in which the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is an operation diagram showing a state where the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner of FIG. 5 has reached the corner Is an operation diagram showing a state in which the autonomous traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is a front view of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of the second embodiment Is a bottom view of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is a perspective view of the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner of the third embodiment Is a front view of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is a front view of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is a bottom view of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is a side view of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a front side state in which some of the elements of FIG. 10 are separated. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state on the bottom surface side where some of the elements of FIG. 10 are separated. Is a sectional view taken along line X17-X17 in FIG. FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which some of the elements of FIG. 17 are separated. Is a sectional view taken along line X19-X19 in FIG. Is a perspective view of the lower unit of FIG. Is a perspective view of the lower unit of FIG. Is a perspective view of the lower unit of FIG. Is a perspective view of the lower unit of FIG. Is a perspective view of the upper unit of FIG. Is a bottom view of the upper unit of FIG. Is a block diagram of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of FIG. Is a front view of a modified autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner Is a front view of a modified autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner Is a front view of a modified autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner Flow chart showing the operation of the fourth embodiment Flow chart showing the operation of the fifth embodiment Flow chart showing the operation of the sixth embodiment

(An example of a form that an autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner can take)
An autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to one aspect of the present invention includes an angle detection unit that detects a corner, a drive unit that drives the casing to reciprocate, a dust detection unit that detects dust, a control unit, And the control means controls the drive means so that the casing performs a predetermined number of reciprocating motions when the angle detecting means determines that the angle has been detected, and performs a predetermined number of reciprocating motions. Even if it is determined that the dust detection means has detected dust after performing the cleaning, the corner cleaning is ended.

  One form of the autonomous traveling cleaner can provide an autonomous traveling cleaner that can clean the entire room within a limited time.

  In the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to one aspect of the invention, when the control means determines that the dust detection means has not detected dust before completing the predetermined number of reciprocating motions, the corner cleaning is terminated. .

  According to this autonomously traveling type vacuum cleaner, when there is no more dust at the corner, it is possible to move to another area and perform cleaning, so that the time required for cleaning can be reduced as much as possible.

  An autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to an aspect of the present invention includes an angle detection unit that detects a corner, a drive unit that drives the casing to reciprocate, a dust detection unit that detects dust, and a control unit. And the control means controls the driving means so as to perform reciprocating motions according to the amount of dust detected by the dust detecting means when the angle detecting means determines that the corner has been detected, and when the reciprocating motion ends. Finish the corner cleaning.

  According to this autonomously traveling type vacuum cleaner, the number of reciprocating motions is determined according to the amount of dust detected by the dust detection means. It can be used efficiently.

  In the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to one aspect of the invention, the reciprocating motion is an operation of swinging the housing left and right.

  According to this autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner, it is possible to remove a large amount of dust accumulated in the corners by swinging the housing from side to side.

  In the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to one aspect of the invention, the drive means has a right motor that drives the right wheel and a left motor that drives the left wheel, and the control means controls the right motor and the left motor. By moving the right wheel forward and retreating the left wheel, and then repeating the operation of moving the left wheel forward and retreating the right wheel, the housing is swung left and right. This is an autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner that controls

  When the autonomous vacuum cleaner comes to the corner, it is possible to swing the housing to the left and right by controlling the two wheels, the right wheel and the left wheel separately. It becomes possible to take.

An autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to an aspect of the present invention includes a body having a suction port on a bottom surface, and the body is defined by a front surface and a plurality of side surfaces, which are curved surfaces bulging outward, and the front surface and the side surfaces. A front top that is a top, and an angle formed by a tangent of the front surface and a tangent of the side surface is an acute angle.

  The body has substantially the same planar shape as the Rouleau triangle, and by reciprocating in this shape, it is possible to remove even dust accumulated in the corners.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 shows the front of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 is a robot-type cleaner that autonomously travels on a cleaning surface of a target area and sucks dust existing on the cleaning surface. Provide functional blocks. An example of the target area is a room, and an example of the cleaning surface is the floor of the room.

  According to an example, the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 sucks the dust into the body 20, the body 20 on which various components are mounted, the cleaning unit 40 (see FIG. 2) that collects the dust present in the target area. A suction unit 50 is provided. The autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 further includes a trash box unit 60 that collects trash sucked by the suction unit 50, and a control unit 70 that controls the units 30, 40, and 50.

  FIG. 2 shows the bottom surface of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10. The autonomously traveling cleaner 10 further includes a pair of drive units 30 that move the body 20, a caster 90 that rotates following the rotation of the drive unit 30, and a power source that supplies power to the units 30, 40, 50, etc. A unit 80 is provided.

  The pair of drive units 30 includes a right drive unit 30 disposed on the right side with respect to the center in the width direction of the body 20 and a left drive unit 30 disposed on the left side with respect to the center in the width direction of the body 20. is there. One drive unit 30 is a first drive unit, and the other drive unit 30 is a second drive unit. Further, the left-right direction, which is the width direction of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10, is defined based on the forward direction of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10.

  The body 20 includes a lower unit 100 (see FIG. 2) that forms the lower outer shape of the body 20, and an upper unit 200 (see FIG. 1) that forms the upper outer shape of the body 20. The body 20 is configured by combining these units 100 and 200. As shown in FIG. 1, the upper unit 200 includes a cover 210 that forms a main part thereof, a lid 220 that opens and closes the cover 210, and a bumper 230 that can be displaced with respect to the cover 210.

  An example of the planar shape of the body 20 is a Rouleau triangle, a polygon having approximately the same shape as the triangle, or a shape in which R is formed on the top of these triangles or polygons. This shape contributes to making the body 20 have the same or similar properties as the geometric properties of the Reuleaux triangle. According to the example shown in FIG. 1, the body 20 has substantially the same planar shape as the Rouleau triangle.

  The body 20 includes a plurality of outer peripheral surfaces and a plurality of top portions. An example of a plurality of outer peripheral surfaces is present on the front side 21 present on the forward side of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10, on the right side surface 22 present on the right rear side with respect to the front surface 21, and on the left rear side with respect to the front surface 21. This is the left side 22. The front surface 21 is a curved surface curved outward and is mainly formed on the bumper 230. Each side surface 22 is a curved surface that curves outward, and is formed on the side of the bumper 230 and the side of the cover 210.

  An example of the plurality of top portions is a right front top portion 23 defined by a front surface 21 and a right side surface 22, a left front top portion 23 defined by a front surface 21 and a left side surface 22, and a right side surface 22 and a left side. A rear apex 24 defined by the side 22 of The angle formed by the tangent line L1 of the front surface 21 and the tangent line L2 of the side surface 22 is an acute angle.

  The right front top 23 and the left front top 23 define the maximum width of the body 20. According to the illustrated example, the maximum width of the body 20 is the distance between the apex of the right front apex 23 and the apex of the left front apex 23, that is, the distance between the two apexes of the Rouleau triangle.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the body 20 further includes a suction port 101 for sucking dust into the body 20. The suction port 101 is formed on the bottom surface of the lower unit 100 that is the bottom surface of the body 20. According to an example, the shape of the suction port 101 is a rectangle, its longitudinal direction is substantially the same as the width direction of the body 20, and its short direction is substantially the same as the front-rear direction of the body 20.

  The suction port 101 is formed on the bottom surface of the body 20 from the front surface 21. This positional relationship is defined by, for example, one or both of the following two types of relationships regarding each element. The first relationship is that the center line of the suction port 101 along the longitudinal direction of the suction port 101 (hereinafter, “the center line in the longitudinal direction of the suction port 101”) is more forward of the body 20 than the center of the body 20 in the front-rear direction. Is to exist on the side. The second relationship is that the suction port 101 is formed on the front side of the body 20 with respect to the pair of drive units 30.

  The width of the suction port 101, which is a dimension in the longitudinal direction of the suction port 101, is wider than the inner space between the right drive unit 30 and the left drive unit 30. This width setting mode ensures a wider width of the suction port 101 and contributes to increasing the amount of dust sucked by the suction unit 50.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the drive unit 30 is disposed on the bottom side of the lower unit 100 and includes a plurality of elements. According to an example, the drive unit 30 includes a wheel 33 that travels on the cleaning surface, a travel motor 31 that applies torque to the wheel 33, and a housing 32 that houses the travel motor 31. The housing 32 is accommodated in a recess formed in the lower unit 100 and is supported by the lower unit 100 so as to be rotatable with respect to the lower unit 100.

  The wheel 33 is disposed outside the traveling motor 31 in the width direction of the body 20. This arrangement improves the stability of the body 20 due to the wider distance between the right wheel 33 and the left wheel 33 compared to the case where the wheel 33 is arranged inward in the width direction relative to the traveling motor 31. May contribute.

  The driving method of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 is an opposed two-wheel type, in which the right drive unit 30 and the left drive unit 30 are arranged to face each other in the width direction of the body 20. The rotation axis H of the right wheel 33 and the rotation axis H of the left wheel 33 are substantially coaxial.

  The distance between the rotation axis H and the center of gravity G of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 is set with the intention of giving the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 a predetermined turning performance, for example. The predetermined turning performance is a turning performance that allows the body 20 to form a trajectory similar to or similar to a quadrangular trajectory formed by the outline of the rouleau triangle. According to an example, the position of the rotation axis H is set to the rear side of the body 20 with respect to the center of gravity G of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10, and the distance between the rotation axis H and the center of gravity G is set to a predetermined distance. According to the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 having the opposed two-wheel type, the trajectory can be formed using the contact between the body 20 and surrounding objects based on this setting.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning unit 40 is disposed inside and outside the body 20 and includes a plurality of elements. According to an example, the cleaning unit 40 includes a brush drive motor 41 and a gear box 42 disposed inside the body 20, and a main brush 43 disposed at the suction port 101 of the body 20.

  The brush drive motor 41 and the gear box 42 are attached to the lower unit 100. The gear box 42 is connected to the output shaft of the brush drive motor 41 and the main brush 43, and transmits the torque of the brush drive motor 41 to the main brush 43.

  The main brush 43 has approximately the same length as the longitudinal dimension of the suction port 101 and is supported by a bearing portion (not shown) so as to be rotatable with respect to the lower unit 100. The bearing portion is formed in one or both of the gear box 42 and the lower unit 100, for example. According to an example, the rotation direction of the main brush 43 is set in a direction from the front to the rear of the body 20 on the cleaning surface side, as indicated by an arrow AM in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the suction unit 50 is disposed inside the body 20 and includes a plurality of elements. According to an example, the suction unit 50 is disposed on the rear side of the trash box unit 60 and on the front side of a power supply unit 80 described later, and is attached to the lower unit 100 (see FIG. 2). An electric fan 51 disposed inside is provided.

  The electric fan 51 sucks air inside the trash box unit 60 and discharges the air outward in the circumferential direction of the electric fan 51. The air discharged from the electric fan 51 passes through the space inside the fan case 52 and the space around the fan case 52 inside the body 20 and is exhausted outside the body 20.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the trash box unit 60 is disposed inside the body 20 on the rear side of the main brush 43 and the front side of the suction unit 50, and is further disposed between the pair of drive units 30. The body 20 and the trash box unit 60 have a detachable structure that allows the user to arbitrarily select the state in which the trash box unit 60 is attached to the body 20 and the state in which the trash box unit 60 is removed from the body 20.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 70 is disposed on the rear side of the suction unit 50 inside the body 20. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 further includes a plurality of sensors. According to an example, the plurality of sensors detect an obstacle detection sensor 71 (see FIG. 1) that detects an obstacle present in front of the body 20, and a distance between an object existing around the body 20 and the body 20. A pair of distance measuring sensors 72 (see FIG. 1). The plurality of sensors further includes a collision detection sensor 73 (see FIG. 1) that detects that the body 20 has collided with a surrounding object, and a plurality of floor surface detection sensors 74 that detect a cleaning surface present on the bottom surface of the body 20. (See FIG. 2). These sensors 71, 72, 73 and 74 each input a detection signal to the control unit 70.

  An example of the obstacle detection sensor 71 is an ultrasonic sensor, which includes a transmitter and a receiver. An example of the distance measurement sensor 72 and the floor surface detection sensor 74 is an infrared sensor, and includes a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit. An example of the collision detection sensor 73 is a contact-type displacement sensor, and includes a switch that is turned on when the bumper 230 is pushed into the cover 210.

As shown in FIG. 1, the pair of distance measuring sensors 72 is disposed on the right side with respect to the center in the width direction of the body 20, and on the left side with respect to the center in the width direction of the body 20. It is the distance measurement sensor 72 of the left side arrange | positioned. The right distance measuring sensor 72 is disposed on the right front top 23 and outputs light toward the right front side of the body 20. The left distance measuring sensor 72 is disposed on the left front apex 23 and outputs light toward the left front of the body 20. This arrangement form realizes detecting the distance between the body 20 and the surrounding object closest to the contour of the body 20 when the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 turns.

  As shown in FIG. 2, an example of the plurality of floor surface detection sensors 74 is a front floor surface detection sensor 74 disposed on the front side of the body 20 relative to the drive unit 30, and the body 20 relative to the drive unit 30. This is a rear side floor surface detection sensor 74 disposed on the rear side.

  The autonomously traveling cleaner 10 further includes a power supply unit 80 that supplies power to the units 30, 40, 50 and the sensors 71, 72, 73, 74. The power supply unit 80 is disposed on the rear side of the body 20 with respect to the center in the front-rear direction of the body 20, and further disposed on the rear side of the body 20 with respect to the suction unit 50, and includes a plurality of elements. According to an example, the power supply unit 80 includes a battery case 81 attached to the lower unit 100, a storage battery 82 housed in the battery case 81, and a main switch 83 that switches between supply and stop of power from the power supply unit 80 to each element. Is provided. An example of the storage battery 82 is a secondary battery.

  FIG. 3 shows functional blocks of the electric system of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10.

  The control unit 70 is disposed on the power supply unit 80 (see FIG. 2) inside the body 20 and is electrically connected to the power supply unit 80. The control unit 70 is further electrically connected to the sensors 71, 72, 73 and 74, the pair of travel motors 31, the brush drive motor 41, and the electric fan 51.

  The control unit 70 is formed of a semiconductor integrated circuit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and controls each circuit. In addition, the control unit 70 has a storage unit (not shown) that stores various programs executed by the control unit 70, parameters, and the like. This storage unit is a non-volatile semiconductor memory such as a flash memory, for example. It consists of elements.

  Based on the detection signal input from the obstacle detection sensor 71, the control unit 70 determines whether there is an object that can hinder the traveling of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 within a predetermined range in front of the body 20. judge. Based on the detection signal input from the distance measurement sensor 72, the control unit 70 calculates the distance between the object existing around the front top 23 of the body 20 and the contour of the body 20.

  Based on the detection signal input from the collision detection sensor 73, the control unit 70 determines whether the body 20 has collided with a surrounding object. Based on the detection signal input from the floor surface detection sensor 74, the control unit 70 determines whether or not the cleaning surface of the target region exists below the body 20.

  The control unit 70 uses one or more of the results of the determination and calculation described above so that the autonomous traveling vacuum cleaner 10 cleans the cleaning surface of the target area, and a pair of travel motors 31, brush drive motors 41, and The electric fan 51 is controlled.

  A dust sensor 300 (or house dust sensor) is connected to the control unit 70. The dust sensor 300 is disposed on a path from the suction port 101 to the trash box unit 60 and detects dust sucked from the suction port 101.

  The dust sensor 300 includes, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The light receiving element detects the amount of light emitted from the light emitting element, and outputs the result to the control unit 70. Based on the input light amount information, the control unit 70 determines that the amount of dust is large if the amount of light is small, and determines that the amount of dust is small if the amount of light is large. The information on the amount of light is more specifically a signal output from an amplifying element (for example, an operational amplifier) connected to the light receiving element.

  FIG. 4 shows a plan view of a conventional autonomous traveling cleaner 900.

  The room RX that is the target region includes, for example, an angle R3 formed by the first wall R1 and the second wall R2. According to the example shown, the angle R3 is approximately a right angle. Autonomous traveling cleaner 900 cannot cover tip R4 of corner R3 when it reaches corner R3. For this reason, a comparatively large space | interval is formed between the suction inlet 910 and the front-end | tip part R4 of the autonomous running type vacuum cleaner 900. FIG. In addition, when a side brush is mounted in the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 900, the dust which exists in front-end | tip part R4 is collected by the suction inlet 910 with a side brush. In any case, the suction port 910 sucks dust at a position away from the distal end portion R4.

  FIGS. 5-7 shows an example of the operation | movement in which the autonomous running type vacuum cleaner 10 cleans corner R3.

  The control unit 70 cleans the corner R3 of the room RX, for example, by running the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 as follows. As shown in FIG. 5, the control unit 70 directs the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 toward the first wall R1 along the second wall R2 while allowing the body 20 to take a posture facing the first wall R1. To move forward. At this time, the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 travels while maintaining the state in which one front top 23 is in contact with the second wall R2 or the state in which the front wall 23 is close to the second wall R2 to the same extent.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the front surface 21 of the body 20 comes into contact with the first wall R1, or when the control unit 70 approaches the first wall R1 to the same extent, the autonomous traveling cleaning is performed on the spot. The machine 10 is temporarily stopped. At this time, a part of the front top part 23 covers a part of the tip part R4 of the corner R3. Moreover, compared with the case where the conventional autonomous running type vacuum cleaner 900 (refer FIG. 4) approached the corner | angular R3 to the limit, the suction inlet 101 of the body 20 approaches the front-end | tip part R4 of the corner | angular R3.

  Next, the control unit 70 performs an operation of turning so that the front surface 21 is in contact with the first wall R1 and an operation of turning so that the side surface 22 is in contact with the second wall R2 to the autonomously traveling cleaner 10. Let it run repeatedly. For this reason, the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 has a reaction force acting on the body 20 due to contact between the front surface 21 and the first wall R1 and a reaction force acting on the body 20 due to contact with the side surface 22 and the second wall R2. Turn left while changing the position of the center of gravity G. This turning movement simulates a part of the movement when the Rouleau triangle forms a square orbit.

  As the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 turns over a certain angle from the state facing the first wall R1, the right front apex 23 is directed at or near the apex of the corner R3 as shown in FIG. A state is formed in which the front apex 23 is closest to the apex of the corner R3. At this time, the body 20 covers a relatively wide range of the tip portion R4. Further, the distance between the suction port 101 of the body 20 and the tip portion R4 of the corner R3 is such that the suction port 910 and the corner R3 when the conventional autonomous traveling cleaner 900 (see FIG. 4) approaches the corner R3 to the limit. It is shorter than the distance from the tip portion R4. The arrangement of the suction port 101 contributes to enhancing the corner cleaning ability of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 as compared with the conventional autonomous traveling cleaner 900.

  The above-mentioned matters concerning the corner cleaning ability of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 can be further described as follows. According to the autonomous traveling cleaner 10, the angle formed by the tangent line L <b> 1 of the front surface 21 and the tangent line L <b> 2 of the side surface 22 is an acute angle. For this reason, when the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 is located at the corner R3 of the target area, it can turn on the spot and take various postures with respect to the corner R3. An example of the posture includes a posture in which the front top portion 23 of the body 20 is directed to the apex of the corner R3 of the target region or the vicinity thereof.

  When the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 takes such a posture, the contour of the body 20 has an angle R3 as compared with the case where the autonomous traveling cleaner 900 having a circular body approaches the corner R3 of the target region to the limit. The suction port 101 of the body 20 is further closer to the vertex of the corner R3. For this reason, it becomes easy for the body 20 to suck in the dust present on the cleaning surface at the corner R3. That is, the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 can easily suck in dust that is present at the corner R3 of the target area as compared to the autonomously traveling cleaner 900 having a circular body.

  In addition, the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 can rotate and change direction when the front top 23 of the body 20 is oriented toward the apex of the corner R3 or the vicinity thereof. For this reason, when moving from the corner R3 of the target area to another place, there is a low possibility that restrictions are imposed like a conventional autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner having a D-type body. That is, the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 can move quickly from the corner R3 to another place as compared with a conventional autonomous traveling cleaner having a D-type body.

  According to the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of Embodiment 1, the following effects are further obtained.

  (1) According to another form that the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 can take, the width of the suction port 101 is narrower than the inner space between the pair of drive units 30. On the other hand, according to the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 of the first embodiment, the width of the suction port 101 is wider than the interval between the pair of drive units 30. According to this configuration, since the suction port 101 is wider than the other embodiment, the suction unit 50 can suck more dust.

  (2) According to another form that the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 can take, the suction port 101 is formed between the pair of drive units 30. On the other hand, according to the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 of the first embodiment, the suction port 101 is formed on the front side of the body 20 relative to the pair of drive units 30. According to this structure, when the autonomous running type vacuum cleaner 10 approaches the wall, the suction port 101 further approaches the wall as compared with the other embodiment. For this reason, the suction unit 50 can suck more waste.

  (3) According to the autonomously traveling cleaner 10, the maximum width of the body 20 is defined by each front top 23. According to this configuration, since the width of the rear portion of the body 20 is narrower than the width of the front portion of the body 20, there is a low possibility that the rear portion of the body 20 will come into contact with the object when turning in a place where an object exists around it. . For this reason, the mobility of the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 is improved.

  (4) According to another form that the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 can take, a steering-type drive system is provided. On the other hand, the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 according to the first embodiment includes an opposed two-wheel drive system configured by a pair of drive units 30. According to this structure, a structure is simplified compared with the said another form.

(5) The relationship between the rotation axis H of each drive unit 30 and the center of gravity G of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 corresponds to one of the main factors that determine the trajectory that the body 20 can form. When the rotation axis H of the pair of drive units 30 exists on the rear side of the body 20 with respect to the center of gravity G of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10, the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 uses its own contact with surrounding objects. It is easy to form a turning motion while changing the position of the center of gravity G. For this reason, the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 can appropriately form at least a part of the square track on the body 20 and enhance the corner cleaning ability.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 8 shows the front of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 shows the bottom surface. The autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 according to the second embodiment further includes the following configuration that is not explicitly described in the first embodiment. In the description of the second embodiment, elements denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment have the same or similar functions as the corresponding elements in the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the cleaning unit 40 further includes a pair of side brushes 44 disposed on the bottom surface of the lower unit 100, which is the bottom surface of the body 20, and a second gear box 42. One gear box 42 is connected to the output shaft of the brush drive motor 41, the main brush 43, and one side brush 44, and transmits the torque of the brush drive motor 41 to the main brush 43 and one side brush 44. The other gear box 42 is connected to the main brush 43 and the other side brush 44, and transmits the torque of the main brush 43 to the other side brush 44.

  The side brush 44 includes a brush shaft 44A attached to the front top portion 23 of the body 20, and a plurality of bristle bundles 44B attached to the brush shaft 44A. The position of the side brush 44 with respect to the body 20 is set to a position where a rotating track capable of collecting dust at the suction port 101 is formed. According to the illustrated example, the number of bristle bundles 44B is three, and each bristle bundle 44B is attached to the brush shaft 44A at a constant angular interval.

  The brush shaft 44 </ b> A has a rotation shaft extending in the same direction as the height direction of the body 20 or approximately the same direction, is supported by the body 20 so as to be rotatable with respect to the body 20, and is the center in the longitudinal direction of the suction port 101. It arrange | positions in the front side of the body 20 rather than a line | wire.

  The bristle bundle 44B includes a plurality of bristles, and is fixed to the brush shaft 44A so as to extend in the same direction as the radial direction of the brush shaft 44A. According to an example, the length of the bristle bundle 44 </ b> B is set to a length that protrudes outward from the contour of the body 20.

  The rotation direction of each side brush 44 is set in the direction from the front to the rear of the body 20 on the center side in the width direction of the body 20 as indicated by the arrow AS in FIG. That is, each side brush 44 rotates in a direction opposite to each other, and from the front side of the body 20 to the rear side in the portion of the rotation path of each side brush 44 that is close to the rotation path of the other side brush 44. Rotate.

  According to the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 of the second embodiment, in addition to the effects (1) to (5) obtained by the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 of the first embodiment, the following effects are further obtained.

  (6) The autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 includes a side brush 44. According to this configuration, the dust present at the corner R <b> 3 of the target region is collected by the side brush 44 at the suction port 101 of the body 20. For this reason, the corner cleaning capability of the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 is further enhanced.

  (7) The side brush 44 is attached to the bottom surface of the front top 23. According to this configuration, the brush shaft 44A of the side brush 44 comes closer to the apex of the corner R3 than when the conventional autonomous traveling cleaner 900 is positioned at the corner R3. For this reason, the corner cleaning capability of the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 is further enhanced.

  (8) According to the autonomously traveling cleaner 10, each side brush 44 rotates in the opposite direction, and approaches the rotation trajectory of the other side brush 44 among the rotation trajectories of each side brush 44. The part rotates from the front to the rear of the body 20. According to this configuration, since dust is collected from the front side of the body 20 by the side brush 44 to the suction port 101, for example, compared to a case where dust is collected from the side of the suction port 101 to the suction port 101. 101 tends to be sucked in. For this reason, the dust which exists on the cleaning surface of corner | angular R3 may be removed efficiently.

  (9) According to the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner provided with the side brush, when the length of the bristle bundle is too long, the risk of the bristle bundle being caught by surrounding objects when the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner travels increases. On the other hand, since the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 can make the suction port 101 of the body 20 closer to the tip portion R4 of the corner R3, the corner cleaning capability does not strongly depend on the length of the bristle bundle 44B. For this reason, the bristle bundle 44B is allowed to have a relatively short length. When the length of the bristle bundle 44B is set to such a length, the possibility that the bristle bundle 44B is caught by surrounding objects is reduced.

  (10) According to the autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner provided with the side brush, as the length of the bristle bundle is increased, the bristle bundle is easily bent when the bristle bundle moves the garbage. And when a bristle bundle bends greatly, there exists a possibility that a bristle bundle may not move garbage appropriately to the suction inlet of a body. On the other hand, as described above, the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 is allowed to set the length of the bristle bundle 44B to be relatively short. When the length of the bristle bundle 44B is set to such a length, the amount of bending of the bristle bundle 44B is reduced. For this reason, the dust present at the corner R3 is easily collected at the suction port 101 by the bristle bundle 44B.

(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 10 shows a perspective structure of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 according to the third embodiment. The autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 according to the third embodiment further includes the following configuration that is not explicitly described in the second embodiment. In the description of the third embodiment, elements denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the second embodiment have the same or similar functions as the corresponding elements of the second embodiment.

  Each element of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 shown in FIG. 10 is an example of a specific form that each element of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 schematically shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 can take. Each front top 23 and rear top 24 of the body 20 has an R shape. The upper unit 200 includes a plurality of exhaust ports 211 communicating the space inside the body 20 with the outside, a light receiving unit 212 formed on the front side of the lid 220, and a lid button 213 for opening the lid 220. The plurality of exhaust ports 211 are formed side by side along the edge of the lid 220, for example.

  The light receiving unit 212 receives a signal output from a charging stand (not shown) for charging the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 or a signal output from a remote controller (not shown) for operating the autonomous traveling cleaner 10. . When receiving the signal, the light receiving unit 212 outputs a light reception signal corresponding to the signal to the control unit 70 (see FIG. 15).

  FIG. 11 shows a plan view of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 of FIG. The autonomously traveling cleaner 10 has a substantially line-symmetric shape with respect to its center line extending in the front-rear direction. The bumper 230 includes a pair of curved convex portions 231 protruding from the front top portion 23. The curved convex portion 231 is curved so as to follow the R shape of the front surface 21 and the side surface 22 and forms a part of the contour of the body 20.

FIG. 12 shows a state where the lid 220 of FIG. 11 is opened. In addition to the cover 210, the lid 220, and the bumper 230, the upper unit 200 further includes an interface unit 240 in which elements operated by the user are arranged, and a trash can receptacle 250 that supports the trash can unit 60. The lid 220 includes a pair of arms 221 constituting the hinge structure. As shown in FIG. 25, the upper unit 200 further includes a pair of arm accommodating portions 260 that accommodate the arms 221.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the interface unit 240 constitutes a part of the cover 210, and is closed when the lid 220 is closed (see FIG. 11) and opened when the lid 220 is opened. According to an example, the interface unit 240 includes a panel 241 including an operation button 242 for turning on and off the operation of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 and a display unit 243 that displays information about the autonomous traveling cleaner 10. Prepare. The panel 241 further includes operation buttons (not shown) for inputting various settings related to the operation of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10. The main switch 83 is disposed in the interface unit 240.

  FIG. 24 shows a perspective structure on the bottom side of the upper unit 200.

  The trash can receptacle 250 is a box-like object that opens to the upper surface side of the upper unit 200, and includes a bottom opening 251 that opens to the bottom side of the body 20 and a rear opening 252 that opens to the rear side of the body 20. As shown in FIG. 12, a trash box unit 60 is inserted into the trash box receptacle 250.

  FIG. 13 shows the bottom surface of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 of FIG. The lower unit 100 includes a base 110 that forms its skeleton. The base 110 includes a power port 102 having a shape corresponding to the power unit 80 that is open on the bottom surface, and a pair of charging terminals 103 connected to a charging stand (not shown).

  The power supply port 102 is formed on the rear side of the body 20 with respect to the center of the body 20 in the front-rear direction, and a part of the power supply port 102 is formed between the pair of drive units 30. The charging terminal 103 is formed on the front side of the body 20 with respect to the suction port 101. According to an example, the charging terminal 103 is formed on a portion closer to the front surface 21 than the bottom surface of the base 110.

  The base 110 further includes a pair of bottom bearings 111 for supporting the casters 90. The bottom bearing 111 is formed on the rear side of the body 20 with respect to the drive unit 30. According to an example, the bottom bearing 111 is formed on the rear side of the body 20 with respect to the power supply port 102 in the bottom surface of the base 110 and on the bottom surface of the rear top portion 24.

  The support shaft 91 is inserted into the caster 90 so as to be rotatable with respect to the caster 90. The end portions of the support shaft 91 are press-fitted into the bottom bearing 111, respectively. This combination of elements allows the caster 90 to rotate relative to the base 110.

  FIG. 14 shows a side view of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 of FIG. According to an example, the main brush 43 rotates in the direction of the arrow AM. The distance between the rotation axis of the wheel 33 of the drive unit 30 and the rotation axis of the caster 90 is wider than the distance between the rotation axis of the wheel 33 and the rotation axis of the main brush 43. This positional relationship contributes to stabilizing the posture of the body 20.

  FIG. 15 shows a perspective structure on the upper surface side of the disassembled lower unit 100.

  On the upper surface side of the lower unit 100, a pair of gear boxes 42, a suction unit 50, a trash box unit 60 (see FIG. 12), and a control unit 70 are attached. The brush drive motor 41 is accommodated in one gear box 42.

  The lower unit 100 further includes a brush housing 170 attached to the upper surface side of the base 110 in addition to the base 110. The brush housing 170 is an element that forms a space for accommodating the main brush 43, and includes a duct 171 connected to the trash box unit 60.

  According to an example, the fan case 52 includes a front case element 52 </ b> A disposed on the front side of the electric fan 51 and a rear case element 52 </ b> B disposed on the rear side of the electric fan 51. These case elements 52A and 52B are combined with each other to form a fan case 52. The fan case 52 further includes a suction port 52C that faces the outlet 61B (see FIG. 17) of the trash box 61, a discharge port 52D (see FIG. 19) that opens to the drive unit 30 side, and a louver 52E that covers the suction port 52C. .

  FIG. 16 shows a perspective structure on the bottom side of the disassembled lower unit 100.

  A pair of drive units 30, a main brush 43, a pair of side brushes 44, casters 90, and a power supply unit 80 are attached to the bottom side of the lower unit 100. The lower unit 100 further includes a brush cover 180 attached to the bottom side of the brush housing 170 and a holding frame 190 attached to the power supply port 102. The holding frame 190 is fixed to the power supply port 102 to hold the power supply unit 80 in cooperation with the base 110.

  The base 110 and the brush cover 180 include an attachment / detachment structure that allows the user to arbitrarily select a state in which the brush cover 180 is attached to the base 110 and a state in which the brush cover 180 is removed from the base 110.

  The base 110 and the holding frame 190 include a detachable structure that allows the user to arbitrarily select a state in which the holding frame 190 is attached to the base 110 and a state in which the holding frame 190 is detached from the base 110.

  FIG. 20 shows an enlarged structure of the lower unit 100 shown in FIG.

  Base 110 includes a plurality of functional regions that each support or house a corresponding element. One example is a drive part 120, a cleaning part 130, a trash can part 140, a suction part 150, and a power supply part 160.

  The drive part 120 is a functional area that houses the drive unit 30 and includes a plurality of functional parts. One example is a wheel house 121 that opens to the bottom surface side of the base 110 and accommodates the drive unit 30, and a spring hook 122 on which a suspension spring 36 (see FIG. 21) constituting a suspension mechanism described later is hung. .

  The wheel house 121 protrudes upward from the upper surface of the base 110 and is formed at a portion of the base 110 from the side surface 22 (see FIG. 19). The spring hooking portion 122 is formed at a front portion of the wheel house 121 and protrudes approximately upward from the wheel house 121. As shown in FIG. 21, a wheel removal detection switch 75 is attached to the upper portion of the wheel house 121. The derailment detection switch 75 is pushed in by the spring hook 32B as the drive unit 30 (see FIG. 15) derails from the cleaning surface of the target area.

The cleaning part 130 shown in FIG. 20 is a functional region that supports the cleaning unit 40 and includes a plurality of functional parts. One example is a pair of shaft insertion portions 131 that support the brush shaft 44A (see FIG. 22) of the side brush 44, and a coupling portion 132 in which the gear box 42 (see FIG. 22) is disposed. The brush housing 170 and the brush cover 180 shown in FIG. 16 constitute a part of the cleaning part 130.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the main brush 43 is disposed inside the brush housing 170, so that both end portions thereof protrude from the brush housing 170 to the coupling portion 132 (see FIG. 20). The brush shaft 44A of the side brush 44 shown in FIG. 15 is inserted into a hole formed in the shaft insertion portion 131 (see FIG. 20).

  One gear box 42 shown in FIG. 15 is disposed at one coupling portion 132 (see FIG. 20), and is connected to the end of the main brush 43 and one brush shaft 44A. The other gear box 42 is disposed at the other coupling portion 132 (see FIG. 20) and is connected to the end portion of the main brush 43 and the other brush shaft 44A.

  As shown in FIG. 20, the trash can part 140 is a functional region formed between the cleaning part 130 and the suction part 150 in the front-rear direction of the body 20, and a trash can receptacle 250 (see FIG. 18) is disposed. To form a space.

  The suction part 150 is a functional region that supports the suction unit 50, and is formed approximately at the center of the base 110 or in the vicinity thereof. A pair of wheel houses 121 are formed on the sides of the suction part 150.

  The power supply part 160 is a functional region that supports the power supply unit 80, and is a recess that is recessed toward the upper surface side when viewed from the bottom surface of the base 110. The control unit 70 is mounted on the power supply part 160.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the brush cover 180 is an object that protrudes downward from the bottom surface of the base 110 and is attached to the base 110, and has a suction port 101 that exposes the main brush 43 to the outside of the body 20, and a front portion. A slope 181 is formed. The slope 181 is a surface in which the distance from the bottom surface of the lower unit 100 increases from the front of the body 20 to the rear, and comes into contact with a step existing on the cleaning surface of the target region to lift the front of the body 20. Contribute.

  The duct 171 has a shape extending approximately in the vertical direction of the body 20, and includes an inlet 172 that accommodates the upper portion of the main brush 43 and an outlet 173 that is connected to the space inside the trash box unit 60. The outlet 173 is inserted into the bottom opening 251 of the trash can receptacle 250. The passage area of the outlet 173 is smaller than the passage area of the inlet 172. According to the illustrated example, the passage in the duct 171 is slightly inclined toward the rear side of the body 20 from the inlet 172 toward the outlet 173. The shape of the passage contributes to guiding the dust sucked into the body 20 through the suction port 101 to the filter 62 side described later.

  As shown in FIG. 18, the trash box unit 60 includes a trash box 61 having a space for storing trash, and a filter 62 attached to the trash box 61. The trash box 61 includes an inlet 61A connected to the outlet 173 of the duct 171, an outlet 61B where the filter 62 is disposed, and a bottom 61C whose size is set smaller than the upper part.

  As shown in FIG. 19, the filter 62 is disposed in the rear opening 252 of the trash can receptacle 250, is disposed over substantially the entire width direction of the trash can 61, and faces the suction unit 50. As shown in FIG. 17, the bottom 61 </ b> C of the trash can 61 is disposed between the rear side of the duct 171 and the front side of the fan case 52. This arrangement contributes to setting the position of the bottom 61C in the height direction of the body 20 to a lower position and lowering the center of gravity of the trash box 61.

  The suction unit 50 is disposed to be inclined with respect to the base 110. The posture of the suction unit 50 with respect to the base 110 is a posture in which the bottom of the suction unit 50 is relatively positioned on the front side of the body 20 and the top of the suction unit 50 is relatively positioned on the rear side of the body 20. This arrangement form contributes to setting the height of the body 20 low. As shown in FIG. 19, the fan case 52 has one side closed and a discharge port 52D on the other side. This configuration contributes to stabilizing the flow of air discharged from the electric fan 51.

  21, 22, and 23 are perspective views of the lower unit 100 to which the pair of gear boxes 42, the main brush 43, the pair of side brushes 44, the suction unit 50, the control unit 70, and the power supply unit 80 are attached. Indicates. When the upper unit 200 shown in FIGS. 24 and 25 is attached to the lower unit 100, the body 20 is configured as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 16 shows the drive unit 30 separated from the lower unit 100.

  The drive unit 30 is a functional block that causes the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 to move forward, backward, and turn, and includes a plurality of elements. According to an example, in addition to the traveling motor 31, the housing 32, and the wheel 33, the drive unit 30 includes a tire 34 that is attached around the wheel 33 and has a block-shaped tread pattern.

  The drive unit 30 further includes a support shaft 35 having a rotating shaft of the housing 32 and a suspension mechanism that absorbs an impact applied to the wheel 33 by a suspension spring 36 (see FIG. 21).

  The housing 32 includes a motor housing portion 32A for housing the traveling motor 31, a spring hook portion 32B on which one end of the suspension spring 36 is hooked, and a bearing portion 32C into which the support shaft 35 is press-fitted. The wheel 33 is supported by the housing 32 so as to be rotatable with respect to the housing 32.

  One end portion of the support shaft 35 is press-fitted into the bearing portion 32 </ b> C, and the other end portion is inserted into a bearing portion formed in the drive part 120. By combining these elements, the housing 32 and the support shaft 35 can rotate with respect to the drive part 120 around the rotation axis of the support shaft 35.

  As shown in FIG. 21, the other end of the suspension spring 36 is hooked on the spring hook 122 of the drive part 120. The suspension spring 36 applies a reaction force acting on the housing 32 in a direction in which the tire 34 (see FIG. 16) is pressed against the cleaning surface of the target area. For this reason, the state where the tire 34 is in contact with the cleaning surface is maintained.

  On the other hand, when a force for pushing the tire 34 shown in FIG. 16 toward the body 20 is input from the cleaning surface to the tire 34, the housing 32 compresses the suspension spring 36 (see FIG. 21) around the center line of the support shaft 35. While rotating from the cleaning surface side to the body 20 side. For this reason, the force acting on the tire 34 is absorbed by the suspension spring 36.

  When the wheel 33 is derailed, the housing 32 rotates relative to the drive part 120 by the reaction force of the suspension spring 36 (see FIG. 21), and the spring hook 32B pushes in the derailment detection switch 75 (see FIG. 21). . For this reason, the wheel loss detection switch 75 shown in FIG. 21 outputs a signal to the control unit 70. The control unit 70 stops the traveling of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 based on the signal.

  As shown in FIGS. 21 to 23, the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 includes a plurality of floor surface detection sensors 74. According to an example, the plurality of floor surface detection sensors 74 include three floor surface detection sensors 74 disposed on the front side of the body 20 with respect to the pair of drive units 30 and the rear side of the body 20 with respect to the pair of drive units 30. Two floor surface detection sensors 74 arranged on the side are included.

  The three floor detection sensors 74 on the front side are sensors attached to the front center of the base 110, sensors attached to the front top 23 on the right side of the base 110, and sensors attached to the front top 23 on the left side of the base 110. is there. As shown in FIG. 19, the two floor surface detection sensors 74 on the rear side are a sensor attached near the right side surface 22 of the base 110 and a sensor attached near the left side surface 22 of the base 110.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the base 110 includes a plurality of sensor windows 112 corresponding to the respective floor surface detection sensors 74. The plurality of sensor windows 112 correspond to the sensor window 112 corresponding to the front center floor detection sensor 74, the sensor window 112 corresponding to the front right floor detection sensor 74, and the front left floor detection sensor 74. A sensor window 112 is included. The plurality of sensor windows 112 further include a sensor window 112 corresponding to the rear right floor surface detection sensor 74 and a sensor window 112 corresponding to the rear left floor surface detection sensor 74.

  As illustrated in FIG. 24, the obstacle detection sensor 71 includes a transmission unit 71A that outputs ultrasonic waves and a reception unit 71B that receives reflected ultrasonic waves. The transmitter 71A and the receiver 71B are attached to the back surface of the bumper 230, respectively.

  The upper unit 200 includes a plurality of windows in addition to the cover 210, the lid 220, and the bumper 230. According to an example, the plurality of windows include a transmission window 232, a reception window 233, and a pair of distance measurement windows 234 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 19, the transmission window 232 is formed in the bumper 230 corresponding to the transmission part 71 </ b> A of the obstacle detection sensor 71. For this reason, the ultrasonic wave output from the transmitter 71A is guided to the outside by the transmission window 232.

  The reception window 233 is formed in the bumper 230 corresponding to the reception unit 71B of the obstacle detection sensor 71. For this reason, ultrasonic waves reflected from surrounding objects are guided to the receiving unit 71B by the receiving window 233.

  Each distance measuring window 234 is formed in the bumper 230 corresponding to the distance measuring sensor 72. As indicated by a broken line arrow in FIG. 19, the light output from the distance measurement sensor 72 passes through the distance measurement window 234 and is directed obliquely forward of the body 20.

  FIG. 26 shows functional blocks of the electric system of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10.

  The control unit 70 includes a semiconductor integrated circuit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and controls each circuit. The control unit 70 has a storage unit (not shown) for storing various programs executed by the control unit 70, parameters, and the like, and is composed of a nonvolatile semiconductor storage element such as a flash memory.

  The control unit 70 includes sensors 71, 72, 73, 74, wheel removal detection switches 75, a light receiving unit 212, operation buttons 242, a pair of travel motors 31, a brush drive motor 41, an electric fan 51, and a display unit 243. And electrically connected.

  The control unit 70 is connected to a dust sensor 300 (or house dust sensor). The dust sensor 300 is disposed on a path from the suction port 101 to the trash box unit 60 and detects dust sucked from the suction port 101.

  The dust sensor 300 includes, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The light receiving element detects the amount of light emitted from the light emitting element, and outputs the result to the control unit 70. Based on the input light amount information, the control unit 70 determines that the amount of dust is large if the amount of light is small, and determines that the amount of dust is small if the amount of light is large. The information on the amount of light is more specifically a signal output from an amplifying element (for example, an operational amplifier) connected to the light receiving element.

  For example, the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 operates as follows.

  The control unit 70 starts the operation of the traveling motor 31, the brush drive motor 41, and the electric fan 51 based on the fact that the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 is turned on by the operation button 242.

  When the electric fan 51 is driven, the air inside the trash box 61 shown in FIG. 17 is sucked into the electric fan 51 and the air inside the electric fan 51 is discharged around the electric fan 51. Therefore, the air on the bottom surface side of the base 110 is sucked into the trash box 61 through the suction port 101 and the duct 171, and the air inside the fan case 52 is inserted into the body through the plurality of exhaust ports 211 shown in FIG. 20 is exhausted to the outside. That is, the air at the bottom of the base 110 shown in FIG. 17 includes the suction port 101, the duct 171, the trash box 61, the filter 62, the electric fan 51, the fan case 52, the space around the fan case 52 in the body 20, and It flows in the order of the exhaust port 211.

  The control unit 70 shown in FIG. 26 sets the travel route of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 based on the detection signals input from the sensors 71, 72, 73, 74, and the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 according to the traveling route. To run. When the traveling route includes the corner R3 of the target area, the control unit 70 performs the autonomous traveling cleaning similarly to the case where the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 of Embodiment 1 cleans the corner R3 (see FIGS. 5 to 7). The machine 10 travels and turns.

  According to the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 of the third embodiment, in addition to the effects (1) to (10) obtained by the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 of the second embodiment, for example, the following effects are obtained.

  (11) The autonomously traveling cleaner 10 includes an R-shaped front top 23 and a rear top 24. According to this configuration, when the body 20 turns in contact with a surrounding object, the object can be softly contacted with the object.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, a specific control operation example of the autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 described so far will be described below. First, the fourth embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 30 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a control operation according to the fourth embodiment. In particular, this will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  In step S1, the control unit 70 drives the dust sensor 300. The driving of the dust sensor 300 is started when, for example, the autonomous mobile vacuum cleaner 10 starts cleaning (or moving).

  In step S2, if the control unit 70 determines that a corner has been detected, the control unit 70 proceeds to step S3. If not, the control unit 70 ends the process (or repeats the process in step S2 until cleaning is completed).

  Specifically, the control unit 70 determines that the obstacle detection sensor 71 has detected the presence of a wall ahead, and the right distance measurement sensor 72 or the left distance measurement sensor 72 determines the presence of a wall. If it determines with having detected, it will determine with the autonomous running type vacuum cleaner 10 approaching the wall.

  More specifically, the ultrasonic wave reflected from the surrounding object enters the reception window 233 and is received by the reception unit 71B of the obstacle detection sensor 71. Based on the reception result, the control unit 70 moves forward. It is determined whether there is an obstacle (for example, a wall). On the other hand, the light output from the distance measuring sensor 72 is emitted to the outside through the distance measuring window 234, and the reflected light is received by the distance measuring sensor 72. The distance measuring sensor 72 determines whether an obstacle (for example, a wall) exists nearby.

  In step S3, the control unit 70 controls the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 to reciprocate the case back and forth at the corners (corner cleaning). For example, the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 moves forward or backward. In a state of stopping without moving to the case, the case is operated to swing left and right.

  More specifically, for example, the control unit 70 controls the right traveling motor 31 and the left traveling motor 31 to advance the right tire 34 and retract the left tire 34, By repeating the operation of moving the left tire 34 forward and retreating the right tire 34, the operation of swinging the housing of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 left and right is realized.

  In step S3, since it is necessary to first detect whether there is dust at the corner, for example, the operation of shaking the housing to the left and right may be performed only once or a few times.

  In addition, although it is expressed here as one reciprocation, a series of operations until the case hits one wall from the stationary state and then hits the other wall and returns to the stationary state is regarded as one reciprocation. Yes. Or it is good also as one reciprocation until it hits one wall from the other wall and hits one wall.

  In any case, the return of the body from the predetermined position to the predetermined position is one round trip, and it is only necessary to realize such a state, and the present invention is not limited to the above definition.

  In step S4, when the control unit 70 determines that no dust is detected from the dust sensor 300, the process proceeds to step S5. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S6.

  It is assumed that the control unit 70 is also executing step S4 when executing step S3.

  In step S5, the control unit 70 stops the corner cleaning started in step S3 and ends the process (or returns to the step S2 and performs the operation of detecting the next corner until the cleaning is completed. Is also good).

  In step S6, the control unit 70 continues the corner cleaning in step S3 and returns the process to step S4.

  As described above, in the fourth embodiment, the housing of the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 can be swung left and right until the dust sensor 300 detects no dust, that is, until there is no dust at the corner. For this reason, it is possible to perform cleaning until the dust accumulated in the corners is automatically cleaned.

(Embodiment 5)
FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing an example of the control operation of the control unit 70 in the fifth embodiment. This will be described below with reference to FIGS. 31 and 26.

  In step S10, the control unit 70 drives the dust sensor 300. The driving of the dust sensor 300 is started when, for example, the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 starts cleaning or moving.

  In step S11, if the control unit 70 determines that a corner has been detected, the control unit 70 proceeds to step S12. If not, the process ends (or the process in step S11 is repeated until cleaning is completed, Clean places other than corners).

  Specifically, the control unit 70 determines that the obstacle detection sensor 71 has detected the presence of a wall ahead, and the right distance measurement sensor 72 or the left distance measurement sensor 72 determines the presence of a wall. If it determines with having detected, it will determine with the autonomous running type vacuum cleaner 10 approaching the wall.

  More specifically, the ultrasonic wave reflected from the surrounding object enters the reception window 233 and is received by the reception unit 71B of the obstacle detection sensor 71. Based on the reception result, the control unit 70 moves forward. It is determined whether there is an obstacle (for example, a wall). On the other hand, the light output from the distance measuring sensor 72 is emitted to the outside through the distance measuring window 234, and the reflected light is received by the distance measuring sensor 72. The distance measuring sensor 72 determines whether an obstacle (for example, a wall) exists nearby.

  In step S <b> 12, the control unit 70 sets the number of times the housing is shaken to the left and right (the number of cleanings) to 5 times, for example, and stores this information in a storage unit (not shown) inside the control unit 70. Note that the number of times that the casing is shaken to the left and right is not limited to five, and the number of times may be freely set by the designer or the user.

  In step S13, the control unit 70 controls the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 to reciprocate the case back and forth at the corners (corner cleaning). For example, the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 moves forward or backward. In a state of stopping without moving to the case, the case is operated to swing left and right.

  More specifically, for example, the control unit 70 controls the right traveling motor 31 and the left traveling motor 31 to advance the right tire 34 and retract the left tire 34, By repeating the operation of moving the left tire 34 forward and retreating the right tire 34, the operation of swinging the housing of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 left and right is realized.

  In step S13, since it is necessary to first detect whether there is dust at the corner, for example, the operation of shaking the housing to the left and right may be performed only once or a few times.

In addition, although it is expressed here as one reciprocation, a series of operations until the case hits one wall from the stationary state and then hits the other wall and returns to the stationary state is regarded as one reciprocation. Yes. Or it is good also as one reciprocation until it hits one wall from the other wall and hits one wall.

  In any case, the return of the body from the predetermined position to the predetermined position is one round trip, and it is only necessary to realize such a state, and the present invention is not limited to the above definition.

  In step S14, the control unit 70 swings the housing once to the left and right once, and proceeds to step S15.

  In step S15, the control unit 70 decrements the number of times the case stored in the S12 unit is swung left and right, and advances the process to step S16.

  In step S16, if the control unit 70 determines that no dust is detected from the dust sensor 300, the process proceeds to step S17, and if not, the process proceeds to step S18.

  In step S17, the control unit 70 stops the corner cleaning started in step S13 and ends the process (or returns to step S11 and performs the operation of detecting the next corner until the cleaning is completed. Is also good).

  In step S18, if the control unit 70 determines that the number of times the casing stored in step S12 is swung left and right is zero, the control unit 70 proceeds to step S17, and otherwise returns to step S14.

  Thus, in the fifth embodiment, when the control unit 70 determines that a corner has been detected, the control unit 70 performs cleaning by shaking the housing left and right a predetermined number of times, and when the dust sensor 300 no longer detects dust, the control unit 70 The corner cleaning is finished even before the case is shaken left and right.

  On the other hand, even when the dust sensor 300 detects dust, the corner cleaning is ended if the housing is shaken left and right a predetermined number of times.

  For this reason, when there is little dust at the corner, corner cleaning is stopped as soon as the dust is exhausted. On the other hand, when there is a lot of dust at the corner, the dust sensor 300 detects the dust a predetermined number of times. If the case is shaken left and right, the corner cleaning is completed.

  In the fifth embodiment, when the amount of dust at the corner is large, the cleaning is not performed thoroughly, and the cleaning of the next place is executed after cleaning to some extent. The embodiment 5 is effective when the user prioritizes the time required for cleaning over thoroughly cleaning the corner.

(Embodiment 6)
FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a control operation according to the sixth embodiment. This will be described below with reference to FIGS. 32 and 26.

  In step S30, the control unit 70 drives the dust sensor 300. The dust sensor 300 is driven when, for example, the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 starts cleaning or moving.

  In step S31, if the control unit 70 determines that a corner has been detected, the control unit 70 proceeds to step S32. If not, the control unit 70 terminates the process (or repeats the process in step S31 until cleaning is completed, Clean places other than corners).

  Specifically, the control unit 70 determines that the obstacle detection sensor 71 has detected the presence of a wall ahead, and the right distance measurement sensor 72 or the left distance measurement sensor 72 determines the presence of a wall. If it determines with having detected, it will determine with the autonomous running type vacuum cleaner 10 approaching the wall.

  For example, an ultrasonic wave reflected from a surrounding object enters the reception window 233 and is received by the reception unit 71B of the obstacle detection sensor 71. Based on the reception result, the control unit 70 forwards an obstacle (for example, Whether there is a wall). On the other hand, the light output from the distance measuring sensor 72 is emitted to the outside through the distance measuring window 234, and the reflected light is received by the distance measuring sensor 72. The distance measuring sensor 72 determines whether an obstacle (for example, a wall) exists nearby.

  In step S32, the control unit 70 controls the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 to reciprocate the case back and forth at the corners (corner cleaning). For example, the autonomous traveling cleaner 10 moves forward or backward. In a state of stopping without moving to the case, the case is operated to swing left and right. Needless to say, dust is sucked at this point.

  More specifically, for example, the control unit 70 controls the right traveling motor 31 and the left traveling motor 31 to advance the right tire 34 and retract the left tire 34, By repeating the operation of moving the left tire 34 forward and retreating the right tire 34, the operation of swinging the housing of the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 left and right is realized.

  In step S32, since it is necessary to first detect whether there is dust at the corner, for example, the operation of shaking the housing to the left and right may be performed only once or a few times.

  In addition, although it is expressed here as one reciprocation, a series of operations until the case hits one wall from the stationary state and then hits the other wall and returns to the stationary state is regarded as one reciprocation. Yes. Or it is good also as one reciprocation until it hits one wall from the other wall and hits one wall.

  In any case, the return of the body from the predetermined position to the predetermined position is one round trip, and it is only necessary to realize such a state, and the present invention is not limited to the above definition.

  In step S33, if the control unit 70 determines that no dust is detected from the dust sensor 300, the process proceeds to step S34, and if not, the process proceeds to step S35. It is assumed that the control unit 70 performs the process of step S33 simultaneously with the process of step S32.

  In step S34, the control unit 70 stops the corner cleaning started in step S32 and ends the process (or returns to step S31 and performs the operation of detecting the next corner until the cleaning is completed. Is also good).

  In step S35, if the control unit 70 determines that the amount of dust detected from the dust sensor 300 is large, the control unit 70 proceeds to step S36, and if not, proceeds to step S37.

In this embodiment, the amount of dust is set to large, medium, and small. However, the dust sensor 300 sets large, medium, and small according to the amount of dust detected per unit time, for example, large, medium, and small. The amount of dust corresponding to small may be appropriately changed by a designer or a user.

  In step S <b> 36, the control unit 70 sets the number of times the housing is shaken to the left and right (the number of cleanings) to, for example, 8 times, and stores this information in a storage unit (not shown) inside the control unit 70. Note that the number of times the casing is shaken to the left and right is not limited to eight, and the number of times may be freely set by the designer or the user.

  In step S37, if the control unit 70 determines that the amount of dust detected from the dust sensor 300 is medium, the control unit 70 proceeds to step S38, and if not, proceeds to step S39.

  In step S <b> 38, the control unit 70 sets the number of times the housing is shaken to the left and right (the number of cleanings) to 5 times, for example, and stores this information in a storage unit (not shown) inside the control unit 70. Note that the number of times that the casing is shaken to the left and right is not limited to five, and the number of times may be freely set by the designer or the user.

  In step S <b> 39, the control unit 70 sets the number of times the casing is swung left and right (the number of cleanings) to, for example, 2 times, and stores this information in a storage unit (not shown) inside the control unit 70. Note that the number of times that the casing is shaken to the left and right is not limited to two, and the number of times may be freely set by a designer or a user.

  In step S40, the control unit 70 swings the housing left and right once and advances the process to step S41.

  In step S41, the control unit 70 decrements the number of times the casing stored in steps S36, S38, and S39 is swung left and right and advances the process to step S42.

  In step S42, if the control unit 70 determines that the number of times the casing stored in steps S36, S38, and S39 is swung to the left and right is zero, the control unit 70 proceeds to step S43, and otherwise proceeds to step S40. To return.

  In step S43, the control unit 70 ends the corner cleaning and ends the process (or returns to step S31 to detect the next corner until the cleaning is completed).

  As described above, in the sixth embodiment, when cleaning the corner, the number of times the case is shaken left and right is set according to the amount of dust detected by the dust sensor 300, and the case is moved left and right by the set number of times. It is configured to shake and clean the corners. For this reason, if the amount of garbage is large, the corner can be cleaned carefully, and if the amount is small, it can be easily cleaned.

  In step S2, if the control unit 70 determines that a corner has been detected, the electric fan 51 may be controlled to increase the suction force of the electric fan 51.

  In step S2, if the control unit 70 determines that the angle has been detected, the control unit 70 controls the brush drive motor 41 to increase the rotation speed, and increases the rotation speed of the main brush 43 or the rotation speed of the side brush 44. It is good also as a structure to raise. As described above, when the corner is detected, the suction force is increased, or the number of rotations of the brush is increased, so that it is possible to quickly remove the hard-to-removal dust accumulated in the corner.

Furthermore, in the fourth to sixth embodiments, the dust sensor 300 detects the amount of dust when the housing is reciprocated once or a plurality of times. A configuration may be adopted in which the amount of dust at the corner is determined based on the amount of dust detected by the dust sensor 300 before approaching.

  Alternatively, the configuration may be such that the amount of dust at the corner is determined based on the amount of dust detected by the dust sensor 300 from the state in which the housing is stopped to the one wall closest to the other wall and then approaching the other wall.

  Alternatively, the configuration may be such that the amount of dust at the corner is determined based on the amount of dust detected by the dust sensor 300 when the housing is shaken from one wall to the other wall.

(Modification)
The description regarding each embodiment is an illustration of the form which the autonomous running type vacuum cleaner of this invention can take, and it does not intend restrict | limiting the form. The autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner of the present invention can take, for example, modifications of each embodiment shown below, in addition to each embodiment.

  -The body 20 of a modification has a different outline from the body 20 illustrated by each embodiment. FIG. 27 shows an example of a modification regarding the contour of the body 20. A two-dot chain line in the figure indicates an outline of the body 20 of the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 27, the side surface 22 of the body 20 of the modification is configured by a front side surface 22 and a rear side surface 22 having different shapes. According to the illustrated example, the front side surface 22 is a curved surface, and the rear side surface 22 is a flat surface.

  FIG. 28 shows another example of a modification regarding the contour of the body 20. A two-dot chain line in the figure indicates an outline of the body 20 of the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 28, in the body 20 of the modified example, a part of the rear portion of the body 20 including the rear apex 24 is omitted, and a rear surface 25 is newly formed. An example of the rear surface 25 is a curved surface curved so as to expand outward. In addition, according to another form, the rear surface 25 is a plane.

  FIG. 29 shows another example of a modification regarding the contour of the body 20. A two-dot chain line in the figure indicates an outline of the body 20 of the third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 29, in the body 20 of the modification, a predetermined portion including the rear apex 24 is omitted, and a rear surface 25 is newly formed. An example of the rear surface 25 is a plane. According to yet another embodiment, the rear surface 25 is a curved surface that is curved so as to expand outward.

  -Each side brush 44 of a modification rotates toward the front from the back of the body 20 in the part close | similar to the rotation track | orbit of the other side brush 44 among the rotation track | orbits of each side brush 44. FIG. According to this configuration, the dust moved by the side brush 44 moves forward on the center side in the width direction of the body 20 and is collected by the side brush 44 when the autonomously traveling cleaner 10 is moving forward. Garbage easily approaches the suction port 101. For this reason, it may become difficult to generate unabsorbed dust on the rear side of the suction port 101.

  The modified side brush 44 includes a bristle bundle 44 </ b> B having a tip on the inner side of the front surface 21 and the side surface 22 of the body 20.

  The modified autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner 10 includes a brush drive motor that applies torque to the main brush 43 and one side brush 44, and a brush drive motor that applies torque to the other side brush 44.

  -The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of a modification is attached to each of the main brush 43, the right side brush 44, and the left side brush 44, and is provided with three brush drive motors which individually give torque to the corresponding brush. .

  -The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of a modification is provided with the sensor different from an ultrasonic sensor as the obstacle detection sensor 71. FIG. One example is an infrared sensor.

  -The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of a modification is provided with the sensor of a kind different from an infrared sensor as the distance measurement sensor 72. FIG. One example is an ultrasonic sensor.

  -The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of a modification is provided with the sensor different from a contact-type displacement sensor as the collision detection sensor 73. FIG. One example is an impact sensor.

  -The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of a modification is provided with the sensor different from an infrared sensor as the floor surface detection sensor 74. FIG. One example is an ultrasonic sensor.

  -The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of a modification is provided with the some caster 90 arrange | positioned rather than the drive unit 30 at the back side of the body 20. FIG.

  -The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of a modification is provided with at least 1 caster in the front side of the body 20 rather than a pair of drive unit 30. FIG.

  -The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner 10 of a modification is provided with a steering type drive system instead of the opposed two-wheel type drive system.

  The detailed description above is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. For example, each of the above-described embodiments, or one or a plurality of modifications, includes room for being combined with each other as necessary. Technical features or subject matter of the present disclosure may be present in fewer than all features of a particular embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. The scope of the present disclosure is determined based on both the rights conferred by the claims and the full scope of equivalents thereof.

  The present invention can be applied to an autonomous traveling vacuum cleaner used in various environments, including an autonomous traveling cleaner for home use or an autonomous traveling cleaner for business use.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Autonomous travel type vacuum cleaner 20 Body 21 Front 22 Side 23 Front top 24 Rear top 25 Rear 30 Drive unit 31 Driving motor 32 Housing 32A Motor accommodating part 32B Spring hook part 32C Bearing part 33 Wheel 34 Tire 35 Support shaft 36 Suspension spring 40 Cleaning Unit 41 Brush Drive Motor 42 Gear Box 43 Main Brush 44 Side Brush 44A Brush Shaft 44B Bristle Bundle 50 Suction Unit 51 Electric Fan 52 Fan Case 52A Front Case Element 52B Rear Case Element 52C Suction Port 52D Discharge Port 52E Louver 60 Recycle bin unit 61 Recycle bin 61A Inlet 61B Outlet 61C Bottom 62 Filter 70 Control unit (control means)
71 Obstacle detection sensor 71A Transmitter 71B Receiver 72 Distance measurement sensor 73 Collision detection sensor 74 Floor detection sensor 75 Derailment detection switch 80 Power supply unit 81 Battery case 82 Storage battery 83 Main switch 90 Caster 91 Support shaft 100 Lower unit 101 Suction Port 102 Power supply port 103 Charging terminal 110 Base 111 Bottom bearing 112 Sensor window 120 Drive part 121 Wheel house 122 Spring hook part 130 Cleaning part 131 Shaft insertion part 132 Coupling part 140 Recycle bin part 150 Suction part 160 Power supply part 170 Brush housing 171 Duct 172 Inlet 173 Outlet 180 Brush cover 181 Slope 190 Holding frame 200 Upper unit 210 Cover 211 Exhaust port 212 Light receiving unit 213 Lid button 220 Lid 221 Arm 230 Bumper 231 Curved convex portion 232 Transmission window 233 Reception window 234 Distance measurement window 240 Interface unit 241 Panel 242 Operation button 243 Display unit 250 Recycle bin receiver 251 Bottom opening 252 Rear opening 260 Arm Container 300 Dust sensor G Center of gravity H Wheel rotation axis RX Room R1 First wall R2 Second wall R3 Angle R4 Tip portion L1 Tangent L2 Tangent

Claims (5)

An angle detection means for detecting the angle;
Drive means for driving the housing to reciprocate;
Dust detection means for detecting dust,
Control means, and
When the control means determines that the angle detection means has detected a corner,
Controlling the drive means so that the housing performs a predetermined number of reciprocating motions;
An autonomously traveling vacuum cleaner that finishes cleaning of a corner even if it is determined that the dust detection means has detected dust after performing the predetermined number of reciprocating motions. The autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner according to claim 1,
If the control means determines that the dust detection means has not detected dust before completing the predetermined number of reciprocating motions, the autonomously traveling type vacuum cleaner ends corner cleaning. It is an autonomous running type vacuum cleaner given in any 1 paragraph of Claims 1-2,
The reciprocating motion is an autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner which is an operation of swinging the housing from side to side. It is an autonomous running type vacuum cleaner given in any 1 paragraph of Claims 1-3,
The drive means includes a right motor that drives a right wheel and a left motor that drives a left wheel,
The control means controls the right motor and the left motor so as to advance the right wheel and retreat the left wheel, and subsequently advance the left wheel and rotate the right wheel. An autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner that controls the casing to swing left and right by repeatedly performing an operation to control it to move backward. It is an autonomous running type vacuum cleaner given in any 1 paragraph of Claims 1-4,
It has a body with a suction port on the bottom,
The body includes a front surface and a plurality of side surfaces which are curved surfaces that bulge outward, and a front top portion which is a top portion defined by the front surface and the side surfaces,
An autonomous traveling type vacuum cleaner in which an angle formed by a tangent line on the front surface and a tangent line on the side surface is an acute angle.

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