Detailed Description
The following detailed description of various embodiments of the present invention will be provided in connection with the accompanying drawings to provide a clearer understanding of the objects, features and advantages of the present invention. It should be understood that the embodiments shown in the drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but rather are merely illustrative of the true spirit of the invention.
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation of various disclosed embodiments, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various disclosed embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that an embodiment may be practiced without one or more of the specific details. In other instances, well-known devices, structures, and techniques associated with the present application may not be shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments.
Throughout the specification and claims, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise" and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising" will be understood to be open-ended, meaning of inclusion, i.e. to be interpreted to mean "including, but not limited to.
Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It should be noted that the term "or" is generally employed in its sense including "or/and" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
In the following description, for the purposes of clarity of presentation of the structure and manner of operation of the present invention, the description will be made with the aid of directional terms, but such terms as "forward," "rearward," "left," "right," "outward," "inner," "outward," "inward," "upper," "lower," etc. are to be construed as convenience, and are not to be limiting.
The first embodiment of the invention relates to an operation method of an autonomous operation device, which is applied to the autonomous operation device. Autonomous working devices are robots that can autonomously move within a predetermined area and perform a specific task, such as typically an intelligent sweeper/cleaner that performs a cleaning task, or an intelligent mower that performs a mowing task, etc. In the working process, the autonomous working equipment executes the work according to a given planning path, and an intelligent mower is taken as an example, and a path control mode of the intelligent mower is generally set to be in a bow shape or a back shape to perform full-coverage mowing path. The existing intelligent mower cannot detect grass leakage when mowing, solves the problem of grass leakage by means of the coverage probability of a randomly planned path, is low in efficiency, and cannot effectively solve the problem of grass leakage. Although some intelligent mowers can conduct autonomous path planning, the deviation of the working path of the intelligent mowers is corrected by finding the difference between the actual working path and the planned path, when the mowers actually run, the deviation of the working path caused by the movement deviation of the mowers on uneven lawns and wet lawns cannot be corrected in time often, and then the problem of mowing leakage caused by deviation from a preset course is generated.
The intelligent mower mainly comprises a course control ring and a position control ring, wherein the course control ring and the position control ring are used for adjusting a driving motor to keep stable straight walking when the mower encounters irregular ground or large-gradient ground in the straight mowing process, and the driving motor cannot be effectively controlled under the severe change of the state of the mower, so that the straight walking of the mower is deviated. When the mower body is in operation, longitudinal skidding occurs in the direction parallel to the running direction of the wheels, and lateral sideslip occurs in the direction perpendicular to the running direction of the wheels. Typically, when mowing on a grass having a slope, the mower will be caused to sideslip when traveling in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the slope. The above problems of missed mowing of the mower caused by slipping are not mentioned in the prior art, and how to observe and effectively detect the missed mowing part is not proposed in a targeted manner.
The intelligent mower mows along the specified path, and when the intelligent mower encounters a ground with gradient, pits or water accumulation, a slipping phenomenon occurs, so that the intelligent mower deviates from the specified path. Typically, when autonomous working equipment passes over a slope where there is water accumulation or a wet land mass in a direction generally parallel to the slope, rapid sliding down is extremely likely to occur, causing the cutterhead of the intelligent mower to quickly pass over the grass near the puddle without cutting sufficiently, creating a weeping grass cut. According to the embodiment, whether the autonomous operation equipment generates an operation omission event, such as a grass omission event, is detected in the operation process of the intelligent mower, the operation omission event is recorded on the electronic map, a basis is provided for subsequent repair operation, the autonomous operation equipment is convenient to repair the path of the area re-planning of the area where the operation omission event occurs, and therefore the area of the operation omission area caused by the occurrence of the operation omission event of the autonomous operation equipment is reduced to the minimum.
As shown in fig. 1, a specific flowchart of a working method of the autonomous working apparatus of the present embodiment is shown.
Step 101, controlling autonomous operation equipment to operate according to a preset first path of a first electronic map, wherein the first electronic map comprises a plurality of coordinates, and the first path covers the coordinates which can pass through the first electronic map.
Specifically, a first path for the first electronic map is preset in the autonomous operation device, and an operation task of the autonomous operation device is to perform an operation according to the first path. The first electronic map includes a plurality of coordinates, in some examples, the first electronic map is a rasterized map, the first electronic map includes a plurality of grids, each grid includes a plurality of coordinates distributed in the grid, and a preset first path of the first electronic map covers the coordinates which can pass through the first electronic map.
Before the autonomous operation device starts working, whether a first electronic map exists or not and whether the first electronic map needs to be corrected or reset or not are judged. If the first electronic map exists, a working mode is entered, and operation is performed according to a preset first path of the first electronic map. And if the first electronic map does not exist or the first electronic map needs to be corrected or reset, entering a map building mode. In some examples, mapping the pattern includes controlling the autonomous working device to walk along the boundary for at least one revolution to record boundary coordinates. After obtaining the boundary coordinates, a first electronic map is generated, and the origin of coordinates of the boundary coordinates is generally set at a position when the autonomous working apparatus is moored at the docking station or at a position of the ground reference station. And after the first electronic map is generated, rasterizing the first electronic map to obtain a grid-type first electronic map. The parameter information for each grid on the first electronic map may be stored in a memory. Wherein the parameter information of the grid includes a coordinate parameter including plane coordinates X and Y and a height coordinate Z and a grid parameter type including a passable grid and a non-passable grid.
After confirming the first electronic map, planning a walking path by the autonomous working equipment. The travel path generally includes a departure path, a regression path, and a working path. The departure path is a path from the stop to the working start point, the return path is a path from the working end point to the stop, and the working path is a travel path from the working start point to the working end point. In this embodiment, the first path of the preset first electronic map is the above-mentioned walking path, that is, the first path includes a departure path, a regression path and a working path. Wherein the working path is planned as a straight reciprocating path, i.e. an arcuate path. In some examples, the working path is planned as a glyph-back path. In this embodiment, the straight reciprocating path includes a straight traveling section and a turning section, and the turning section connects two adjacent straight traveling sections. In some examples, the turn segments connect two straight segments that are equally spaced or unequally spaced. The two straight sections joined by the same turning section travel in opposite directions, with the distance between adjacent straight sections being less than the diameter of the cutter disc in the self-operating machine to ensure full coverage of the straight reciprocating path.
Step 102, detecting whether an omission event occurs in the autonomous operation equipment when the autonomous operation equipment operates each coordinate in the operation process of the autonomous operation equipment, and recording parameter information of the omission event occurring in the target coordinate, wherein the target coordinate is the coordinate of the omission event occurring in the operation process of the autonomous operation equipment.
Specifically, in the operation process of the autonomous operation device, for each coordinate on the first electronic map, detecting whether a missing event occurs when the autonomous operation device operates through each coordinate, if so, taking the corresponding coordinate as a target coordinate, and recording parameter information of the missing event occurring in the target coordinate, wherein the parameter information of the missing event occurring in the target coordinate comprises height coordinates of the autonomous operation device on plane coordinates X and Y and a height coordinate Z. In some examples, during the operation of the autonomous operation device, whether the autonomous operation device generates a missing event when operating each passable coordinate is detected, parameter information of the missing event generated by a target grid is recorded, and the target grid is the grid described by the coordinate of the missing event generated during the operation of the autonomous operation device.
In this embodiment, for each coordinate, in the process of operating the coordinate by the autonomous operation device, operation data collected by the sensing device in the autonomous operation device is obtained, and based on the operation data corresponding to the coordinate, whether a missing event occurs when the autonomous operation device operates the coordinate is determined. In some examples, the deviation value of the operation data is calculated based on operation data of a preset period of time in the operation data corresponding to the coordinates. And when the deviation value is larger than a preset deviation threshold value, determining that the autonomous working equipment generates a missing event when working the coordinates. And when the deviation value is smaller than or equal to a preset deviation threshold value, determining that the autonomous working equipment does not generate a missing event when working on the coordinates.
The sensing means may be an inertial sensor or a position sensor. The inertial sensor such as accelerometer, gyroscope, etc. and the positioning sensor such as satellite positioning device (GNSS-RTK), GNSS (Global Navigation SATELITE SYSTEM) is a global navigation satellite system, which is generally referred to as all satellite navigation systems, RTK is a real-time dynamic carrier phase difference positioning technology, and the carrier phase acquired by the reference station is sent to the receiver by using the GNSS positioning technology and the differential method of the carrier phase observation of the two measuring stations, so as to solve the difference to obtain the coordinates, which is a new common satellite positioning measurement mode. In some examples, a visual positioning device is used, which may be selected from prior art vehicle-mounted visual positioning systems for active visual navigation. In some examples, the positioning sensor comprises a satellite positioning device and a visual positioning device, and the two positioning positions are fused through a fusion algorithm to improve the accuracy of the position information.
When acquiring operation data acquired by an inertial sensor in an autonomous operation device, selecting a preset time period as a window time, calculating a root mean square value of the operation data acquired by the inertial sensor in the window time period to represent a deviation value of the operation data, namely, root mean square of the operation data of the inertial sensor on a plane coordinate X and Y and a height coordinate Z, wherein the root mean square of the operation data of the inertial sensor in the preset time period (in a window time period) is obtained by a formula one calculation by taking the plane coordinate X axis as an example:
Where N represents the number of operation data acquired in one window period, and X1, X2, … … XN represent operation data acquired on the X axis. The calculation on the planar coordinate Y-axis and the height coordinate Z-axis is the same as in equation (1).
And (3) obtaining a root mean square value on X, Y, Z coordinates through the calculation of the formula (1), if the root mean square value of any one of the root mean square values on X, Y, Z coordinates is larger than a preset deviation threshold value, determining that an omission event occurs when the autonomous operation equipment operates the coordinates, and defining the omission event occurring at the moment as a first type of omission event. The first type of missing event is a longitudinal slip of the vehicle and a lateral slip of the vehicle that occurs when the autonomous working device is traveling over uneven ground while working.
In some examples, the omission event is determined to occur when the autonomous working apparatus works on the coordinates by any one of the values calculated by the following formulas (2) to (5) being greater than a preset deviation threshold value.
Taking an intelligent mower as an example, the longitudinal skidding scene of a vehicle is as follows: when the intelligent mower descends along a slope approximately parallel to the gradient direction, slipping occurs if a water pit is encountered, and the cutter head of the intelligent mower quickly slides down under the action of gravity and rapidly passes through the grassland near the water pit without cutting sufficiently, so that missed cutting is formed. In the embodiment, by effectively identifying the scene and pertinently supplementing the cutting, the missed cutting is fundamentally solved, and the cutting efficiency is greatly improved. The missing event is detected according to the running data of the vehicle, wherein the running data comprises linear speed information, linear acceleration information, angular speed information, angular acceleration information, heading information and position coordinate information in the running process of the vehicle. For example, linear acceleration information from accelerometers is often used to detect missing events because accelerometers are relatively more responsive to longitudinal slip of the vehicle.
Also taking an intelligent mower as an example, the transverse skidding scene of a vehicle is as follows: when the intelligent mower runs on the slope surface along the direction approximately perpendicular to the gradient, the vehicle body can deviate downwards due to the action of gravity (usually, the lower deviation of the vehicle head of the rear driving trolley is more obvious, the lower deviation of the vehicle tail of the front driving trolley is more obvious), and the vehicle body control system can correct the lower deviation, so that the actual running track is an arc line which deviates downwards from an ideal track firstly and returns upwards to the ideal track later, and further the missed cutting is caused. In addition, as the smoothness of the grasslands and the consistency of the grassconditions are low, and the outdoor environment is complex, the grasping force of the left and right driving wheels of the intelligent mower is generally different in the running process (the density, the dryness, the humidity and the like of the grasslands can be influenced). The vehicle body control system corrects deviation caused by the difference of the ground grabbing force, and the actual running track is an arc line which deviates from an ideal track firstly and returns to the ideal track later, so that missed cutting is caused. Since gyroscopes are relatively more sensitive to the lateral slip of a vehicle, angular velocity information of the gyroscopes is often used to detect missing events.
In some examples, the first type of missing event is further detected by determining, when operation data acquired by an inertial sensor in the autonomous working device is acquired, whether an absolute value of a difference value between operation data at two adjacent moments in operation data corresponding to the grid is greater than a second preset threshold. If the absolute value of the difference value of the operation data at two adjacent moments in the operation data corresponding to the grid is larger than a second preset threshold value, determining that a first type of missing event occurs when the autonomous operation equipment operates the grid. If the absolute value of the difference value of the operation data of the adjacent two moments is not larger than a second preset threshold value in the operation data corresponding to the grids, determining that no missing event occurs when the autonomous operation equipment operates the grids. For example, in the running process of the autonomous working equipment, the running data of the accelerometer is obtained, the abrupt change amount of the accelerometer is calculated, the abrupt change amount of the accelerometer represents that the current accelerometer detects abrupt change of the movement of the vehicle body, namely, if the absolute value of the difference value of the running data of the accelerometer at two adjacent moments is larger than a second preset threshold value, the abrupt change amount of the accelerometer is represented. When the intelligent mower runs, external interference which is easy to cause errors of vehicles due to raised stones, pits and the like can cause abrupt change of the accelerometer.
In some examples, the detection of whether a missing event, defined as a second type of missing event, occurs is also performed by acquiring operational data collected by a positioning sensor in the autonomous job. The second type of missing event is a positioning error that occurs from the positioning sensor of the autonomous working device at the time of the work.
Taking an intelligent mower as an example, vehicle positioning mainly depends on a GNSS global positioning system and a dead reckoning fusion algorithm, when shielding interference of large plants or buildings occurs in a garden requiring mowing, GNSS satellite signals are interfered, particularly, the GNSS positioning error is increased due to multipath effects caused by the shielding interference of the plants or the buildings, the effect of the dead reckoning fusion algorithm is greatly influenced, and at the moment, a second type of missing event occurs in the intelligent mower. When the position coordinate information acquired by the positioning sensor in the autonomous operation equipment is acquired, calculating the absolute value of the difference value of the position coordinate information of the autonomous operation equipment at two adjacent moments as a deviation value, and if the deviation value is larger than a preset deviation threshold value, determining that a second type of missing event occurs when the autonomous operation equipment operates the grid.
And step 103, after the autonomous operation equipment finishes the operation according to the first path, mapping each target coordinate of the missing event to the first electronic map to obtain a second electronic map.
Specifically, after the autonomous working device completes the operation according to the first path, for each target coordinate of the missing event occurring in the operation process, according to parameter information recorded by each target coordinate, mapping the target coordinate to the first electronic map again according to the origin coordinate system under the 2D coordinate system, and obtaining the second electronic map. And each target coordinate in the second electronic map keeps the same coordinate as the first electronic map, so that each coordinate on the first electronic map corresponds to each coordinate on the second electronic map one by one. And reflecting each target coordinate of the missing event which occurs after the operation of the main operation equipment is completed according to the first path on the second electronic map.
And 104, generating a second path which at least covers all target coordinates in the second electronic map, and controlling the autonomous operation equipment to operate according to the second path.
Specifically, all the target coordinates in the second electronic map are target coordinates where the missing event occurs, and the autonomous working apparatus needs to re-route the target coordinates in order to eliminate the missing event. After the second path is re-planned for all target coordinates, the autonomous working device continues the work according to the second path. Taking an intelligent mower as an example, the intelligent mower mows again according to the second path, and the grass leakage area left in the mowing process along the first path is repaired.
In one example, the generating of the second path in step 104 covering at least all of the target coordinates in the second electronic map comprises the sub-steps of:
In sub-step 1041A, two target coordinates are selected from all the target coordinates as the start and end coordinates, respectively.
In sub-step 1042A, a shortest path is generated in the second electronic map, which takes the start coordinate as the start point and the end point coordinate as the end point, and covers all the target coordinates as the second path.
Specifically, the autonomous working apparatus returns to the stop along the return path in the first path or stops at the working end point of the working path in the first path after completing the work according to the first path. At this time, the autonomous working apparatus may select one of the target coordinates closest to itself on the coordinate X axis as the start coordinate and one of the target coordinates farthest from itself on the coordinate X axis as the end coordinate, and the autonomous working apparatus considers the start coordinate as the working start point of the working path, the end coordinate as the working end point of the working path, and adopts the shortest path algorithm to plan the second path, which is the shortest path between the start coordinate and the end coordinate and passing through all the target coordinates. The shortest path algorithm adopts an algorithm for obtaining the shortest path commonly used in the prior art, for example, an a-x algorithm or a Dijkstra algorithm, which is not described herein.
In one example, the generating of the second path in step 104 covering at least all of the target coordinates in the second electronic map comprises the sub-steps of:
In the sub-step 1041B, the target coordinates in the second electronic map are divided into a plurality of coordinate sets, each coordinate set includes a plurality of target coordinates, for each target coordinate in each coordinate set, a distance between the target coordinate and at least one target coordinate located in the same coordinate set is less than or equal to a first preset threshold, and a distance between the target coordinate and any target coordinate located in a different coordinate set is greater than the first preset threshold.
Specifically, any one of all target coordinates in the second electronic map is selected, whether the interval distance between any one target coordinate and other target coordinates is smaller than a preset threshold value is judged, if the interval distance is smaller than or equal to a first preset threshold value, one target coordinate and other target coordinates are divided into a coordinate set, and if the interval distance is larger than the preset threshold value, one target coordinate and other target coordinates are divided into different coordinate sets until all target coordinates are divided into at least one coordinate set. The interval distance between every two target coordinates contained in one coordinate set is smaller than or equal to a first preset threshold value, and the interval distance between every two target coordinates in different coordinates is larger than the first preset threshold value.
In the substep 1042B, for each coordinate set, a square leak-repairing area is generated including all the target coordinates in the coordinate set, and a third path is planned in each square leak-repairing area, the third path at least covering all the target coordinates in the square leak-repairing area to which it belongs.
Specifically, in each coordinate set, a certain coordinate point on the plane coordinate system on the second electronic map is used as a reference point, for example, an origin of the plane coordinate system is used as a reference point, one coordinate with the closest distance from the X-axis to the reference point coordinate is selected as a starting point boundary coordinate, one coordinate with the farthest distance from the starting point boundary coordinate is selected as an ending point boundary coordinate, and distance values of the starting point boundary coordinate and the ending point boundary coordinate on the X-axis and the Y-axis are respectively used as length and width, so that a square leakage repairing area comprising all target coordinates in the coordinate set is generated. And planning a third path in the square leak repairing area by the autonomous working equipment, and performing linear reciprocating operation in an arched path or a return path in the square leak repairing area according to the third path by the autonomous working equipment.
Sub-step 1043B, planning a fourth path in two adjacent square leak-repairing areas, the second path comprising: and a third path of each square leakage repairing area and a fourth path between two adjacent square leakage repairing areas.
Specifically, when the autonomous working apparatus completes the operation in one square leak-repairing area, the autonomous working apparatus plans a fourth path so that the autonomous working apparatus runs along the fourth path from the one square leak-repairing area to another square leak-repairing area adjacent thereto. When the target coordinates in the second electronic map are divided into a plurality of coordinate groups, each coordinate group correspondingly generates a square leak repairing area. The second path includes a third path in each square drain repair region and a fourth path between two adjacent square drain repair regions.
Step 105, in the process of controlling the autonomous working device to work according to the second path, detecting whether a missing event occurs when the autonomous working device works on each target coordinate, and marking the target coordinate on which the missing event occurs.
And 106, displaying the marked target coordinates on the second electronic map.
Specifically, after the plurality of square leak repairing areas are generated, the autonomous operating device may continue to operate in the square leak repairing areas according to a third path included in the second path, and during the operation, the autonomous operating device continues to detect whether a missing event occurs when the autonomous operating device operates on the target coordinates in the manner of step 102, and if the missing event occurs, the target coordinates are marked on the second electronic map, and the marked target coordinates are displayed on the second electronic map.
In some examples, for the target coordinates displayed on the second electronic map, a missing message including position information of the target coordinates is generated and sent to a mobile terminal in communication connection with the autonomous operation device, so as to inform a user of a position where the missing event occurs and a type of the missing event, and corresponding solutions are provided, such as self-trimming of dense grass, stone removal, pit filling, accumulated water removal, position adjustment of the positioning sensor, and the like.
In some examples, steps 104 to 106 are repeated multiple times, and the leakage repairing operation is continuously performed in the square leakage repairing area, so that the number of target coordinates of the leakage event is gradually reduced, and the area needing leakage repairing is reduced as much as possible.
The method comprises the following specific steps: firstly, controlling the autonomous operation equipment to execute Q times of operations on a first electronic map containing a plurality of coordinates, recording target coordinates of a missing event in each operation process of the autonomous operation equipment to form a missing coordinate set, wherein Q is an integer larger than 1. And secondly, judging whether the Q missing coordinate sets recorded in the Q operation processes are overlapped or not after the Q operation is finished by the autonomous operation equipment. If there is overlap and the number of overlap reaches a predetermined value, prompting by using missing position information of the target coordinates including overlap between the Q missing coordinate sets.
And controlling the autonomous operation equipment to operate according to a preset first path of the first electronic map during the first operation. And during the M-th operation, performing path planning on the first electronic map based on the missing coordinate set recorded during the M-1-th operation to obtain a second path, and controlling the autonomous operation equipment to operate according to the second path. That is, mapping each target coordinate in the missing coordinate set recorded during the M-1 operation to the first electronic map to obtain a second electronic map, and generating a second path at least covering all the target coordinates in the second electronic map, wherein M is greater than 1 and less than or equal to Q, and M is an integer.
A second embodiment of the present invention relates to an autonomous working apparatus, which is a robot that can autonomously move within a preset area and perform a specific work, such as an intelligent sweeper/cleaner that performs a cleaning work, or an intelligent mower that performs a mowing work, in particular, a work that processes a work surface and changes the state of the work surface. The autonomous working apparatus is used to execute the working method of the autonomous working apparatus in the first embodiment.
In the following, an autonomous working apparatus will be described in detail as an example of a smart mower, and referring to fig. 4 and 5, an autonomous working apparatus 100 as a smart mower may autonomously perform a mowing operation on the ground, and the autonomous working apparatus 100 includes at least a main body mechanism 12, a moving mechanism 14, a working mechanism, an energy module, a detection module, an interaction module, a control module 18, and the like.
The body mechanism 12 generally includes a chassis for mounting and housing the functional mechanisms and functional modules of the mobile mechanism 14, the work mechanism, the energy module, the detection module, the interaction module, the control module 18, and the like. The housing is generally configured to at least partially encase the chassis and primarily functions to enhance the aesthetics and visibility of the autonomous working device 100, and in this embodiment, is configured to be repositionably translatable and/or rotatable relative to the chassis under external forces, and in combination with a suitable detection module, such as a hall sensor for example, may further function to sense an event of a crash, lift-off, or the like.
The movement mechanism 14 is configured to support the body mechanism 12 on the ground and drive the body mechanism 12 to move on the ground, and generally includes a wheeled movement mechanism, a crawler or semi-crawler movement mechanism, a walk-behind movement mechanism 14, and the like. In this embodiment, the movement mechanism 14 is a wheeled movement mechanism including at least one drive wheel 142 and at least one travel prime mover 144. The travel prime mover 144 is preferably an electric motor, and in other embodiments may be an internal combustion engine or a machine that generates power using other types of energy sources. In the present embodiment, a left drive wheel, a left travel prime mover driving the left drive wheel, a right drive wheel, and a right travel prime mover driving the right drive wheel are preferably provided. In the present embodiment, the linear travel of the autonomous working apparatus 100 is achieved by the same-directional constant-speed rotation of the left and right driving wheels, and the steering travel is achieved by the same-directional differential or opposite rotation of the left and right driving wheels. In other embodiments, movement mechanism 14 may also include a steering mechanism independent of the drive wheels and a steering prime mover independent of the travel prime mover 144. In this embodiment, the movement mechanism 14 further includes at least one driven wheel, typically configured as a universal wheel, with the drive wheel 142 and driven wheel being located at the front and rear ends of the robot, respectively.
The work mechanism is configured to perform specific work tasks, including a work piece and a work prime mover that drives the work piece. Illustratively, for intelligent sweepers/cleaners, the work pieces include a roller brush, a dust suction tube, a dust collection chamber, and the like; for intelligent mowers, the work piece includes a cutting blade or cutter disc, and further includes other components for optimizing or adjusting mowing effectiveness, such as a height adjustment mechanism for adjusting mowing height. The working prime mover is preferably an electric motor, and in other embodiments may be an internal combustion engine or a machine that uses other types of energy to generate power. In other embodiments, the working prime mover and the traveling prime mover are configured as the same prime mover.
The energy module is configured to provide energy for various operations of autonomous working apparatus 100. In this embodiment, the energy module includes a battery, preferably a rechargeable battery, and a charging connection structure, preferably a charging electrode that is exposable to the outside of the autonomous working device.
The detection module is configured as at least one sensor that senses an environmental parameter in which autonomous working device 100 is located or its own operating parameters. Typically, the detection module may comprise sensors associated with the definition of the working area S, for example of the magnetic induction type, collision type, ultrasonic type, infrared type, radio type, etc., the sensor type being adapted to the position and number of the corresponding signal generating means. The detection module may also include sensors associated with positioning navigation, such as satellite positioning device 162, laser positioning device, electronic compass, acceleration sensor, odometer, angle sensor, geomagnetic sensor, visual positioning device 164, and the like. The detection module may also include sensors related to its operational safety, such as obstacle sensors, lift sensors, battery pack temperature sensors, and the like. The detection module may also include sensors associated with the external environment, such as an ambient temperature sensor, an ambient humidity sensor, an illumination sensor, a deluge sensor, and the like. In this embodiment, the inertial sensor and the positioning sensor in the detection module sense the operation data of the autonomous working device 100 and calculate the deviation value of the operation data, so as to determine whether a missing event occurs when the autonomous working device works on the grid.
Control module 18 generally includes at least one processor and at least one non-volatile memory, with pre-written computer programs or sets of instructions stored in the memory, upon which the processor controls the execution of actions such as movement, work, etc. by autonomous working device 100. Further, control module 18 may also be capable of controlling and adjusting the corresponding behavior of autonomous working apparatus 100, modifying parameters within memory, etc., based on signals from the detection module and/or user control instructions. In the present embodiment, the operation method of the autonomous operation device in the first embodiment is executed by the control module 18.
The interaction module is configured to at least receive control instruction information input by a user, send out information needing to be perceived by the user, communicate with other systems or devices to send and receive information, and the like. The interactive module includes an input device provided on the autonomous working apparatus 100 for receiving control instruction information input by a user, typically such as a control panel, a scram key, etc.; the interactive module also includes a display screen, indicator lights, and/or buzzer disposed on autonomous working device 100 that enable a user to perceive information by emitting light or sound. In other embodiments, the interaction module includes a communication module disposed on autonomous working device 100 and a terminal device, such as a cell phone, a computer, a web server, etc., independent of autonomous working device 100, on which control instruction information or other information of the user may be entered, via a wired or wireless communication module, to autonomous working device 100.
The boundary 800 is the perimeter of the working area S of the robotic system, and generally comprises an outer boundary and an inner boundary. Autonomous working device 100 is defined to move and operate within, outside, or between an outer boundary and an inner boundary. The boundary may be solid, typically such as a wall, fence, railing, or the like; the boundary may also be virtual, typically as a virtual boundary signal, typically an electromagnetic or optical signal, is emitted by a boundary signal generating device, which in some prior art approaches is configured as a closed energized wire electrically connected to the boundary signal generating device, typically disposed within the docking station 900. For the autonomous working apparatus 100 provided with the positioning device of the present invention, a virtual boundary is constructed in an electronic map, which is exemplarily formed of two-dimensional or three-dimensional coordinates.
The docking station 900 is generally configured on the boundary 800 or within the boundary 800, and the autonomous working apparatus 100 is moored, and in particular is capable of supplying energy to the autonomous working apparatus 100 moored at the docking station.
Also, since the second embodiment corresponds to the first embodiment, the second embodiment can be implemented in cooperation with the first embodiment. The related technical details mentioned in the first embodiment are still valid in the second embodiment, and the technical effects achieved in the first embodiment are also achieved in the second embodiment, so that the repetition is reduced, and the description is omitted here. Accordingly, the related-art details mentioned in the first embodiment can also be applied to the second embodiment.
While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, it should be understood that aspects of the embodiments can be modified, if necessary, to employ aspects, features and concepts of the various patents, applications and publications to provide yet further embodiments.
These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above detailed description. In general, in the claims, the terms used should not be construed to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.