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  Robotic systemUSPTO Application #: 20050234612Title: Robotic system Abstract: A self-propelled robot is disclosed for movement over a surface to be treated. The robot has a power supply (11) and a pair of wheels (8,9) driven by motors (6,7) for moving the robot over the surface. A mechanism (113,115,16) is provided for controllably depositing a fluent material on to the surface. Navigation sensors (4,13,18,21) provide signals for enabling the robot to navigate over the surface and one or more detectors (14,15,17) detect the presence of the material on the surface and provide signals indicative of its presence. A control system (100) receives the signals from the sensors and detectors and controls the motors and the depositing mechanism in dependence upon the signals received from the sensors and detectors. (end of abstract)
Agent: The Procter & Gamble Company Intellectual Property Division - Cincinnati, OH, US Inventors: Ian Bottomley, David Coates, Andrew Russell Graydon, David McCrory Jamieson, Claude Paul Mancel, Barry Stoddart USPTO Applicaton #: 20050234612 - Class: 701023000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Data Processing: Vehicles, Navigation, And Relative Location, Vehicle Control, Guidance, Operation, Or Indication, Automatic Route Guidance Vehicle The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20050234612. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001] The present invention relates to robotic systems and, more particularly to a mobile robotic system capable of movement over a surface and capable of treating the surface. [0002] Conventionally robotic systems, or robots, of this type may be described as semi-autonomous, i.e. self-propelling but relying for navigational guidance on transmitters, receivers and sensors to establish a coordinate system by which the robot navigates, in effect learning the location of obstacles within its field of movement. More recently it has been proposed to allow a robot to move without establishing a coordinate system, instead relying on the sensing of ad hoc stimuli to enable the robot to navigate around obstacles. For example, it has been proposed to provide a robotic vacuum cleaner operating along these lines. Self-navigational robotic systems of this type are referred to as autonomous robots. [0003] However, robots of these types, often intended for operation in a domestic environment, need a control system which is capable of allowing the robot to move around its environment in safety and therefore additionally need some sort of collision detection system which is capable of providing information on collisions or impending collisions to a control system capable of acting very quickly to prevent the collision or else to minimise the impact, and to perform collision avoidance by re-orienting the robot before further movement. Unfortunately, on-board processing power is inevitably limited by cost constraints in particular and therefore present systems, to avoid be prohibitively expensive, have relatively limiting navigational abilities which result, in use, in the robot tracing a path which involves passing over the same areas of the surface on plural occasions. Whilst this may not be problematic in say a vacuum cleaner, if the robot has the function of treating the surface in other ways, then such redundant movement may result in over-treatment of the surface which is not only wasteful of the product used for the treatment (a serious problem where the payload is restricted), but may also damage the surface or otherwise actually be harmful. [0004] The present invention is aimed at providing a self-propelled robot which can overcome such problems. [0005] According to the present invention, there is provided a self-propelled robot for movement over a surface to be treated, the robot comprising [0006] a power supply; [0007] a traction mechanism receiving power from the power supply, for moving the robot over the surface; [0008] a mechanism for controllably depositing a fluent material on to the surface; [0009] a plurality of navigation sensors providing signals for enabling the robot to navigate over the surface; [0010] one or more detectors adapted to detect the presence of the material on the surface and provide signals indicative thereof; and [0011] a control system receiving the signals from the sensors and detectors, for controlling the traction mechanism and the depositing mechanism in dependence upon the signals received from the sensors and detectors. [0012] By detecting the application of the fluent material, which may be a liquid or gaseous fluid or else a flowable powder, the over-application of material can be avoided or minimised by either navigating the robot around areas already treated and/or by controlling the depositing mechanism to stop the deposit of material over such previously treated areas. [0013] Material for treatment is preferably contained within a reservoir on the robot and may comprise suitable compositions for treatment of floors, carpets and other floor coverings. The robot may, if desired, also include means for cleaning the floor or floor covering prior to treatment, for example in the form of a vacuum cleaning device. [0014] The invention also includes a method of treating a surface using a robot as defined above. The treatment method may be used for various applications on carpets, and other floor coverings, such as cleaning, protective treatment, for example for stain and soil protection, fire protection, UV protection, wear resistance, dust mite control, anti microbial treatment and the like, as well as treatment to provide an aesthetic benefit such as odorization/deodorization. The treatment method may also find application on other surfaces such as synthetic floor coverings, ceramics or wood. As well as polishing hard surfaces, the robot may also be used to apply coatings to either enhance aesthetics or to act as a protective layer. [0015] Thus, according to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for controllably depositing a fluent material on to floors, carpets and other floor coverings using an autonomous, self propelled, deposition-sensing robot. The material deposited may, for example, be a carpet cleaning composition, a hard surface cleaning composition, or one of a number of compositions applied simultaneously, or successively, and may include a marker, the presence of which can be detected to provide detection of the extent of treatment material deposition. Such a marker may have a limited detection life, for example, 12, 24 or 48 hours. [0016] Non-visible treatment may also be provided by the robot of the invention, for example, for odour control, antibacterial action of dust mite control. [0017] The robot preferably comprises a plurality of navigation sensors providing signals for enabling the robot to navigate over the surface, and one or more detectors adapted to detect the presence of the material on the surface and provide signals indicative thereof. The navigation sensors may include one or more collision sensors and/or proximity sensors. The collision sensors may include one or more lateral displacement sensors arranged on a peripheral sensor ring to provide 360.quadrature. collision detection, and/or one or more vertical displacement sensors. [0018] Utilising a generally circular shape together with a control regime which scans for the best direction of escape after the robot has become stuck (say in a corner) is especially advantageous. Furthermore, it may be additionally advantageous to detect the angle of any collision, in order to optimise the robots subsequent angle of movement away from the obstacle. [0019] The traction mechanism preferably includes left and right, coaxially disposed drive wheels with corresponding drive motors which are preferably provided with pulse-width modulated drive signals. [0020] For depositing material on the surface, an array of delivery ports, e.g. spray nozzles, may extend generally parallel with the drive wheel axis, preferably extending to the same lateral extent as the deposition detectors. [0021] The detectors may comprise one or more sensors arranged to detect the edge of a section of previously deposited product. Suitable deposition detectors include one or more radiation sources and/or detectors, moisture detectors, reflectivity meters, conductivity meters etc. Detectors may be disposed laterally of the drive wheels, preferably forward thereof. [0022] The robot further preferably comprises a control system for controlling deposition of the material dependent on the signals received from the one or more detectors and sensors. In preferred embodiments, the control system functions to control deposition of the material (e.g. to avoid or minimise over-application) by a combination of strategies comprising a)navigating the robot around previously-treated areas of the surface (referred to herein as the `navigation strategy`; and b) controlling the depositing mechanism to stop or reduce the deposit of fluent material on to the surface as the robot passes over such previously-treated areas (referred to herein as the `deposition rate control strategy`). In practice, the control system arbitrates between the two strategies depending on the signals received from the navigation sensors and deposition detectors. The ability of the control system to arbitrate between the two strategies, for example to make a rapid judgment on whether to cross or navigate around previously-treated areas and whether to maintain, reduce or stop deposition accordingly, is an important feature for ensuring controlled deposition in the context of a fully autonomous robot designed to operate in the cluttered, unstructured and track-free environment typically found in domestic and institutional situations. [0023] Alternatively, the control system can be designed to control deposition purely following a deposition rate control strategy, in other words, by controlling the depositing mechanism to stop or reduce the deposit of fluent material on to the surface as the robot passes over previously-treated areas. Of course, systems depending purely on deposition rate control require less complicated electronics than the preferred combined-strategy systems described above. On the other hand, single strategy systems can be less efficient in terms of the time required to complete the task in hand. [0024] Preferably, the control system has a hierarchical architecture and includes one or more microprocessor controllers or microcontrollers for controlling higher-level functions, and providing higher-level instructions and a plurality of lower-level function modules adapted to receive signals from the sensors and detectors and to provide control signals in response thereto. The traction mechanism and product dispensing control signals are preferably issued to a traction mechanism controller and to a product dispensing controller via a manifold or bus arranged to receive signal inputs from the microprocessor and a plurality of sub-processors each corresponding to a respective navigation sensor or the like. By this means, a distributed processing system can be employed to provide a high level of flexibility in control strategy, whilst allowing simple connection of the sub-processors, thus to reduce the complexity and expense of the control system. The various processors preferably include neural network functionality to provide behavioural characteristics appropriate to the chosen task of the robot, the behavioural characteristics of the processors preferably being moderated by a group of generic moderators providing necessary arbitration between the control instructions from the various processors. The higher-level functions preferably include one or more functions selected from determination of the robot being stuck, room size estimation, clutter level determination, and battery monitoring. The lower-level modules are preferably analog neural networks which provide, for example, edge follow and dispense control functions, together, preferably, with cliff sensing, collision detection, speed reduction and random movement functions. Continue reading... Full patent description for Robotic system Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Robotic system patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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