JP2024086577A - Cleaning robot - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a cleaning robot capable of preventing a unit related to traveling from being affected even when an excessive load, an instantaneous load change and a rush current and the like occur in a suction motor.SOLUTION: A cleaning robot 1 comprises: a cleaner body 70 for a business use including a suction motor and capable of traveling on a floor surface by a plurality of rotational casters; and a travel base including a travel motor and capable of performing autonomous traveling. The cleaning robot includes: a suction battery 21 to be used for driving the suction motor; and a travel battery 31 to be used for driving the travel motor. The suction battery 21 is arranged above the travel battery 31.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Application for exception to loss of novelty has been filed

The present invention relates to a cleaning robot capable of autonomous movement.

In offices, commercial facilities, accommodation facilities, and the like, vacuum cleaners are used to collect dust from floors as part of hygiene management. In recent years, due to factors such as rising labor costs and labor shortages, there has been an increasing demand for cleaning robots that can autonomously move across floors while sucking up dust, in order to reduce the burden on workers.

For example, the cleaning robot shown in Patent Document 1 comprises a running section, a vacuum cleaner body located at the top inside the running section, a nozzle located at the bottom of the running section, and a pipe located inside the running section connecting the vacuum cleaner body and the nozzle, and is configured to be capable of autonomous running. This cleaning robot is capable of cleaning a target area by driving the vacuum cleaner body to run independently while collecting dust sucked in by the nozzle through the pipe and collected in the vacuum cleaner body.

Japanese Patent No. 6227948 (page 5, figure 1)

In a cleaning robot like that in Patent Document 1, distance sensors are located slightly above the nozzles on both the front and rear sides of the running part, making it possible to detect obstacles near the floor surface on both the front and rear sides of the running part. However, because these distance sensors are located on the front and rear sides of a large case for the running part that surrounds the vacuum cleaner body, pipes, etc., there is a problem in that the horizontal sensing range of the distance sensors is limited by the case.

The present invention was developed to address these problems, and aims to provide a cleaning robot with a wide horizontal sensing range.

In order to solve the above problems, the cleaning robot of the present invention comprises:
A commercial vacuum cleaner body having a suction motor and capable of moving on a floor surface using a plurality of swivel casters;
A traveling cart having a traveling motor and capable of autonomous traveling;
A cleaning robot comprising:
a suction battery used to drive the suction motor;
a driving battery used to drive the driving motor;
The suction battery is characterized by being disposed above the driving battery.
The traveling carriage has a pair of wheels at the front and a pair of wheels at the rear,
The vehicle is characterized in that the driving battery is disposed between the front and rear wheels.
A cleaning robot capable of autonomous travel equipped with a distance sensor,
An upper device having a function of the vacuum cleaner body and a lower device having a traveling function are connected by a connecting part that stands upright,
The distance sensor is characterized in that a plurality of the distance sensors are arranged on either side of the connecting portion.
This feature makes it possible to expand the sensing range in the horizontal direction.

The distance sensors are characterized in that they are disposed on the front side and the rear side of the connecting portion.
According to this feature, the process for detecting the distance in the forward and backward directions can be simplified.

The front distance sensor is characterized in that it is disposed further back than the rear distance sensor.
According to this feature, the vicinity of the lower device in the forward traveling direction can be reliably included in the sensing range.

The lower device is characterized in that a nozzle is disposed at the front end thereof, facing the floor surface, for sucking in dust on the floor surface.
According to this feature, the vicinity of the nozzle can be reliably included in the sensing range.

A part of a pipe connected to the vacuum cleaner body is disposed on the side of the connecting portion.
According to this feature, it is possible to prevent the pipe from interfering with the sensing of the distance sensor.

A battery for propulsion is provided in the lower device, and a battery for the vacuum cleaner body is provided in the upper device.
This feature allows the connecting portion to be made thinner, and also allows the center of gravity to be shifted to the lower device for stability.

The cleaning robot is characterized in that its horizontal cross section is substantially square.
According to this feature, it is possible to include an omnidirectional sensing range with a small number of distance sensors.

1 is a perspective view showing a cleaning robot according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. FIG. FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a sensing range of the cleaning robot.

The following describes how to implement the cleaning robot according to the present invention.

The cleaning robot according to the embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 6. In the following description, the lower right side of the page in Fig. 1 is the front side of the cleaning robot.

Cleaning robots clean in offices, commercial facilities, accommodations, etc. by autonomously moving across floors without human assistance and sucking up and collecting dust that has fallen on the floor.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 5, the cleaning robot 1 is configured such that an upper device 2 to which the vacuum cleaner body 70 is fixed and a lower device 3 having a traveling function are connected by a connecting body 4 (see Figs. 2 to 5) that serves as a vertical connecting part, and the robot is equipped with distance sensors 5, 6 (see Figs. 2 to 5) that are arranged on the front and rear sides of the connecting body 4, and is capable of traveling independently.

The upper device 2 is mainly composed of a frame 20 (see Figures 2 to 5), a battery 21 (see Figures 2 to 5), a control device 22 (see Figure 5), a vacuum cleaner body 70, and an exterior 80. For ease of explanation, only the outlines of the exteriors 80 and 90 are shown by dashed lines in Figures 2 to 5.

As shown in Figures 2 to 5, the frame 20 is configured as a rectangular parallelepiped skeleton that is approximately square when viewed from above. The frame 20 has approximately the same front-to-rear dimension as the left-to-right dimension. In the present invention, a frame is considered to be approximately square if the front-to-rear dimension is between 8/10 and 12/10 of the left-to-right dimension.

The frame 20 has a flat mounting surface 20a at its upper end, on which the vacuum cleaner body 70 can be placed. The vacuum cleaner body 70 is surrounded by an exterior 80 fixed to the frame 20, restricting movement in the front-rear and left-right directions.

The means for fixing the vacuum cleaner body 70 to the frame 20 may be, for example, a belt, or both the upper exterior 80 and a belt, or may be changed as appropriate. Also, a raised piece may be provided on the placement surface 20a to prevent the vacuum cleaner body 70 from falling off.

The battery 21 is formed in a generally cubic shape and is arranged and fixed within the frame 20. The battery 21 has a larger storage capacity, is larger, and is heavier than the battery 31 of the lower device 3 described below, and is mainly used to drive the vacuum cleaner body 70. The battery 21 may be, for example, a battery case in which multiple batteries are arranged.

As shown in FIG. 5, the control device 22 is fixedly disposed on the frame 20. The control device 22 controls the power supply to the vacuum cleaner body 70 and the devices related to traveling, which will be described later. Note that a control device for traveling may be provided in the lower device 3 separately from the control device 22, and the traveling may be controlled by this control device.

As shown in Figures 2 to 5, the vacuum cleaner body 70 is connected through a pipe 72 to a nozzle 71 that faces the floor surface and sucks up dust on the floor surface. The vacuum cleaner body 70 is the main body of a commercial vacuum cleaner that runs on a commercial power source, and includes a housing that holds paper bags, casters, a suction fan (not shown), a cord with a plug (not shown), etc.

The vacuum cleaner main body 70 has a plug-in cord connected to an inverter (not shown) and is driven by AC power supplied from the inverter. The inverter converts DC current supplied from the battery 21 into AC current. Furthermore, the vacuum cleaner main body 70 can also be used to manually operate the vacuum cleaner main body 70 to clean by electrically connecting the plug-in cord to a commercial power source.

As shown in Figures 1 to 6, the lower device 3 is mainly composed of a main body 30, a battery 31 (see Figures 2 to 5), drive wheels 32L, 32R, 33L, and 33R, bumpers 34 and 35 (see Figure 6), and an exterior 90.

The main body 30 is configured in a box shape that is roughly square when viewed from above.

The battery 31 is a rectangular parallelepiped that is long in the left-right direction, and is disposed between the front drive wheels 32L, 32R and the rear drive wheels 33L, 33R in the main body 30. As described above, it is smaller than the battery 21 of the upper device 2, and as shown in Figures 3 and 5, its height is shorter than the drive wheels 32L, 32R, 33L, 33R.

As a result, the main body 30 is longer in height than the battery 31 and shorter in height than each of the drive wheels 32L, 32R, 33L, and 33R.

The battery 31 is used to supply power to devices related to the movement of the cleaning robot 1, and is used to drive, for example, the drive wheels 32L, 32R, 33L, and 33R, the distance sensors 5 and 6, etc. Note that the power supply to the distance sensors 5 and 6 may be configured to be performed from the battery 21.

Each drive wheel 32L, 32R, 33L, 33R is a so-called Mecanum wheel with multiple rollers, and is provided with an individual running motor. The magnitude and input direction of the applied voltage supplied from the battery 31 to each drive motor is individually switched by the control device 22 of the upper device 2. Therefore, the rotation speed and rotation direction of each drive wheel 32L, 32R, 33L, 33R are individually controlled.

This allows the cleaning robot 1 to move smoothly in all directions by combining the drive of each drive wheel 32L, 32R, 33L, and 33R with the rolling of each roller in contact with the floor surface.

The front bumper 34 is U-shaped when viewed from above, and is fixed to the main body 30 while surrounding the front drive wheels 32L, 32R and the exterior 90 fixed to the main body 30. The bumper 34 is also provided with a switch (not shown) that is turned on when it comes into contact with an obstacle.

The rear bumper 35 is U-shaped when viewed from above and is fixed to the main body 30 while surrounding the rear drive wheels 33L, 33R and the exterior 90. It is also provided with a switch (not shown) like the front bumper 34.

When the control device 22 detects that at least one of the bumper switches 34, 35 has been turned on, it selects an appropriate avoidance action, such as stopping or backing up, and determines the magnitude and input direction of the voltage to be applied to the driving motor.

As shown in Figures 3, 5, and 6, the main body 30 of the lower device 3 is positioned slightly rearward of the center in the front-rear and left-right directions within the rectangular frame formed by the front and rear bumpers 34, 35. A nozzle 71 is also positioned between the main body 30 and the front bumper 34, on the right side of the front end of the main body 30. The right end of the nozzle 71 is exposed outside the front right corner of the front bumper 34. This makes it possible to clean the area to the right of the bumper 34.

The connecting body 4 is mainly composed of a base material 40, a protruding member 43 that is fixed to the front of the left and right wall portions 40a, 40b of the base material 40 and has a part that protrudes forward, and a protruding member 44 that is fixed to the rear ends of the left and right wall portions 40a, 40b and has a part that protrudes rearward.

Referring to FIG. 6, the base material 40 is formed in a U-shape when viewed from above, and has left and right wall portions 40a, 40b and a flat bridge portion 40c that is continuous with the rear ends of the left and right wall portions 40a, 40b and perpendicular to the rear ends of the left and right wall portions 40a, 40b. In addition, the structural strength of the base material 40 is enhanced because it is formed in a U-shape.

Referring to Figures 2 to 6, the right wall portion 40a and the left wall portion 40b have a symmetrical shape. Therefore, the right wall portion 40a will be used as an example to explain these, and a description of the left wall portion 40b will be omitted.

Referring to Figures 2, 5, and 6, the right wall portion 40a is formed in a U-shape with flanges extending vertically to the right when viewed from the front and a vertically extending erection portion disposed across the flanges (see Figure 2). The upper flange is fixed to the frame 20 of the upper device 2, and the lower flange is fixed to the body 30 of the lower device 3. Furthermore, the structural strength of the wall portion 40a is increased because it is formed in a U-shape.

The wall portion 40a is cut out in a generally rectangular shape in the upper half forward of the bridge portion 43a of the overhanging member 43, and is formed so that the rear portion is higher than the front portion, so that the wall portion 40a is formed in a sideways P shape (see FIG. 5).

Referring to Figures 2 and 6, the protruding member 43 arranged on the forward side has a bridge portion 43a fixed to the front of the walls 40a and 40b, and a protruding portion 43b protruding forward generally perpendicular to the lower end of the bridge portion 43a. A distance sensor 5 is fixed to the upper surface of the protruding portion 43b.

The connecting body 4 has a horizontal cross section formed by the vertical portions of the walls 40a and 40b of the base material 40, the bridge portion 40c, and the bridge portion 43a of the protruding member 43, which is generally square in shape.

Referring to Figures 4 and 6, the protruding member 44 arranged on the rear side has fixed parts 44a, 44a fixed to the lower rear ends of the walls 40a, 40b, and a flat protruding part 44b extending further rearward from the fixed parts 44a, 44a. A distance sensor 6 is fixed to the upper surface of the protruding part 44b.

Referring to Figures 2 to 6, the distance sensors 5 and 6 are so-called LiDAR that use light to measure distance, and the detection units 5a and 6a are arranged at approximately the same height. The detection units 5a and 6a are capable of sensing over 360 degrees in the horizontal direction, and can measure the distance to an obstacle within a sensing range of approximately 0.5 m to 10 m. The distance sensor may be capable of three-dimensional measurement. The angle, short distance, and long distance of the detectable range may also be changed as appropriate.

Before cleaning the room, the control device 22 performs mapping based on distance information and relative position information to obstacles such as walls and pillars in the room measured by the distance sensor 5.

When cleaning the room, the control device 22 identifies the current position based on distance information and position information measured by the distance sensors 5 and 6, and information such as the number of rotations from a rotary encoder (not shown) connected to the four driving motors. Then, the control device 22 checks the current position against the mapped map to determine the magnitude and input direction of the applied voltage for each driving motor.

Next, the sensing ranges S1, S2 of the distance sensors 5, 6 will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 6. In Fig. 6, the range of approximately 250 degrees enclosed by dashed lines and the range of a radius of 0.5 m or more from the distance sensors 5, 6 shown shaded are the sensing ranges S1, S2 in which obstacles can actually be detected. On the other hand, the remaining range of 110 degrees and the range of less than a radius of 0.5 m from the distance sensors 5, 6 are outside the sensing range.

Referring to Figures 1 to 5, the detection units 5a, 6a of the distance sensors 5, 6 are disposed in an opening 1a (see Figures 1 to 5) that is formed by separating the upper device 2 and the lower device 3 with the connecting body 4. The opening 1a is a slit-like space between the lower end of the upper device 2 and the upper end of the lower device 3, which are separated in the vertical direction by the connecting body 4, and is open in the outer diameter direction over 360 degrees when the connecting body 4 is regarded as the central axis.

As shown in Figures 2, 3, and 5, the distance sensor 5 is disposed on the front side of the connecting body 4 within the opening 1a, so that the front side and the left and right sides are open, and the distance sensor 5 is disposed forward and spaced apart from the bridge portion 43a of the protruding member 43 (see Figures 3 and 5). This allows the sensing range S1 of the distance sensor 5 shown in Figure 6 to include the rear side of the distance sensor 5.

In addition, the upper front ends of the walls 40a, 40b of the connecting body 4 on the left and right sides of the distance sensor 5 are cut out, preventing the walls 40a, 40b from interfering with the sensing of the distance sensor 5.

Furthermore, because the batteries 21, 31 and other devices that require volume are arranged in the upper device 2 and lower device 3, the dimensions of the connecting body 4 in the front-rear and left-right directions can be made shorter, i.e., thinner. This narrows the range in which the walls 40a, 40b and the bridge portion 43a of the protruding member 43 interfere with the sensing of the distance sensor 5.

As a result, the cleaning robot 1 has a wide sensing range S1 of approximately 250 degrees as the distance sensor 5.

As shown in Figs. 3 to 5, the distance sensor 6 is disposed on the rear side of the connecting body 4 within the opening 1a, leaving the rear and left and right sides open, and is disposed rearward and spaced apart from the bridge portion 40c of the base material 40 (see Figs. 3 and 5). This allows the sensing range S2 of the distance sensor 6 shown in Fig. 6 to include the area in front of the distance sensor 6.

In addition, each fixed portion 44a of the protruding member 44 is positioned below the sensing range S2 of the distance sensor 6, thereby preventing each fixed portion 44a from interfering with the sensing of the distance sensor 6.

Furthermore, as described above, the connecting body 4 is formed thin, so the range in which the bridge portion 40c and the walls 40a and 40b of the base material 40 interfere with the sensing of the distance sensor 6 is narrowed.

As a result, the cleaning robot 1 has a wide sensing range S2 of approximately 250 degrees as the distance sensor 6.

In addition, because the horizontal cross section of the upper device 2 and lower device 3 of the cleaning robot 1 is substantially square, it is possible to prevent the configuration of the cleaning robot 1 from interfering with the sensing of each of the two distance sensors 5 and 6, in other words, to keep the configuration of the cleaning robot 1 outside the sensing of each of the distance sensors 5 and 6, while making it possible to make the sensing ranges S1 and S2 overlap near the sides of the cleaning robot 1. This allows the sensing ranges S1 and S2 to include all directions with only the two distance sensors 5 and 6.

In this embodiment, the sensing ranges S1 and S2 are omnidirectional, including all 360 degrees from the connecting body 4 as the center, but are not limited to this and may be a range narrower than 360 degrees. For example, it is sufficient if it is 270 degrees or more, and it is more preferable if it is 300 degrees or more.

Furthermore, the cleaning robot 1 is configured with a square shape in horizontal cross section that is narrow enough that the connecting body 4 can be placed outside the sensing ranges of the distance sensors 5 and 6, more specifically, within a diamond-shaped blind spot S3 within a range of 110 degrees that does not include the sensing ranges S1 and S2 shown by the dashed line in FIG. 6. Therefore, the distance sensors 5 and 6 can be placed in positions close to the connecting body 4.

This allows the sensing ranges S1, S2 of the distance sensors 5, 6 to overlap closer to the sides of the connecting body 4, so that the area near the cleaning robot 1 can be included in the sensing ranges S1, S2 with just the two distance sensors 5, 6.

In addition, by overlapping the sensing ranges S1, S2 of the distance sensors 5, 6, when one of the distance sensors 5, 6 is sensing another location, the other can sense the other location. Note that the sensing ranges of multiple distance sensors do not have to overlap, for example, if the distances that each distance sensor can sense are separated and do not intersect.

The distance sensor 5 is also positioned closer to the center of the cleaning robot 1 in the front-to-rear direction than the distance sensor 6, which is positioned on the rear side of the connecting body 4. In other words, the distance sensor 5 is positioned further back than the distance sensor 6 in the opening 1a. This allows the distance sensor 5 to include the corner of the front bumper 34 and the corner of the nozzle 71 in its sensing range S1. This allows the cleaning robot 1 to smoothly clean the edges of walls where dust tends to accumulate.

The cleaning robot 1 is also positioned so that the pipe 72 does not interfere with the sensing of the distance sensors 5 and 6. More specifically, in order to communicate and connect the vacuum cleaner body 70 and the nozzle 71, it is necessary for the pipe 72 to run vertically at the same height as the distance sensors 5 and 6. However, since the rising portion 72a of the pipe 72 is positioned within the above-mentioned diamond-shaped blind spot S3 and to the left of the left wall portion 40b of the connecting body 4, the pipe 72 is prevented from interfering with the sensing of the distance sensors 5 and 6.

As described above, the cleaning robot 1 of this embodiment has distance sensors 5, 6 located on the front and rear sides of the connecting body 4 that connects the upper device 2 and the lower device 3, respectively, so that the sensing ranges S1, S2 in the horizontal direction can be expanded.

In addition, the processing for detecting distance in the forward and backward directions can be simplified. For example, if distance sensors are arranged on the left and right sides of the cleaning robot, it is necessary to identify which distance sensor is measuring the front or rear, and it is necessary to take into account factors such as angle correction relative to the installation position, which can easily complicate processing in the main forward and backward directions.

In addition, the battery 31 for driving is provided in the lower device 3, and the battery 21 for the vacuum cleaner body 70 is provided in the upper device 2, so the center of gravity can be moved toward the lower device 3 for stability.

In addition, because the batteries 21, 31, which require volume, are located in the upper device 2 and the lower device 3, the vertical dimension of the connecting body 4 can be shortened. This allows the overall height dimension of the cleaning robot 1 to be reduced, so the center of gravity can be moved closer to the lower device 3.

The vertical dimension of the connecting body 4 may be changed as appropriate as long as the sensing ranges S1 and S2 of the detection units 5a and 6a of the distance sensors 5 and 6 can be secured. On the other hand, it is preferable that the vertical dimension is short in order to suppress rocking when the cleaning robot 1 moves.

In addition, of the batteries 21, 31 provided individually, the smaller battery 31 is placed in the lower device 3, so the vertical dimension of the lower device 3 can be shortened. This makes it easier to place the distance sensors 5, 6 near the floor surface, so that obstacles in the path of each drive wheel 32L, 32R, 33L, 33R can be detected more reliably.

In addition, by locating the battery 21 of the upper device 2 below the vacuum cleaner body 70, the center of gravity of the cleaning robot 1 can be lowered. This makes it easier to reduce shaking that may occur when the cleaning robot 1 moves.

In addition, the battery 21 for driving the vacuum cleaner body 70 and the battery 31 for supplying power to the equipment related to the movement of the cleaning robot 1 are provided separately, so even if excessive load, momentary load fluctuation, inrush current, etc. occurs on the suction motor due to vinyl being sucked into the pipe 72, the effects of this are prevented from extending to the equipment related to the movement.

In addition, the power consumption per unit time of the vacuum cleaner main body 70 is greater than the power consumption of the devices related to driving, and the power storage capacity of each is set so that the remaining power storage capacity of the battery 21 reaches zero sooner than the remaining power storage capacity of the battery 31, so that the cleaning robot 1 can be reliably returned to a specified position.

In addition, bumpers 34, 35 are provided on the front and back of the cleaning robot 1, making it possible for the robot to take evasive action when it comes into contact with an obstacle not only on the front side but also on the rear side.

The switches of the bumpers 34, 35 are also turned on when an obstacle comes into contact with the left or right side of the bumpers 34, 35. This allows the cleaning robot 1 to take evasive action when it comes into contact with an obstacle in the left or right direction as well. This allows the cleaning robot 1 to reliably take evasive action when it comes into contact with an obstacle, even if it is outside the sensing range of the distance sensors 5, 6.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and additions and modifications that do not deviate from the gist of the present invention are also included in the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the vacuum cleaner body is described as being the vacuum cleaner body of a commercial vacuum cleaner, but this is not limited thereto, and the upper device may be configured to have components such as a housing and a suction fan that cannot be detached and function as the vacuum cleaner body.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the distance sensors are described as being provided one at the front and one at the back, but this is not limited to the above, and one may be provided on the left and one on the right, or may be arranged in a triangular shape in top view with the connecting part in between, and the positions and number of the sensors may be changed as appropriate.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the distance sensor is described as being provided at the connecting portion, but this is not limited thereto, and as long as multiple distance sensors are arranged on either side of the connecting portion, they may be fixed to the lower device or to the upper device.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the distance sensor is described as being LiDAR, but this is not limited to this and may be an infrared sensor, an image sensor, etc., and may be changed as appropriate.

In the above embodiment, the connecting portion is described as being separate from the upper device and the lower device, but this is not limited thereto, and the connecting portion may be a part of at least one of the upper device and the lower device. In other words, as long as an opening can be formed between the upper device and the lower device, the configuration may be changed as appropriate.

In addition, in the above embodiment, each drive wheel is described as being a Mecanum wheel, but this is not limited, and as long as the direction of travel can be changed, the wheels may be changed as appropriate.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the cleaning robot is described as having a substantially square horizontal cross section, but this is not limited thereto, and the horizontal cross section may be rectangular, a polygonal shape other than a square, circular, or elliptical, and the shape may be changed as appropriate.

1 Cleaning robot 1a Opening 2 Upper device 3 Lower device 4 Connecting body (connecting part)
5, 6 Distance sensor 21, 31 Batteries 32L to 33R Drive wheels 34, 35 Bumper 70 Cleaner body 71 Nozzle 72 Pipe 72a Rising portion 80, 90 Lower exterior S1, S2 Sensing range

Claims (2)

A commercial vacuum cleaner body having a suction motor and capable of moving on a floor surface using a plurality of swivel casters;
A traveling cart having a traveling motor and capable of autonomous traveling;
A cleaning robot comprising:
a suction battery used to drive the suction motor;
a driving battery used to drive the driving motor;
The cleaning robot, wherein the suction battery is disposed above the driving battery. The traveling carriage has a pair of wheels at the front and a pair of wheels at the rear,
The cleaning robot according to claim 1 , wherein the battery for driving is disposed between the front and rear wheels.

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