A dirtiness level determining method, applied to a robot cleaner comprising an image sensor, comprising: capturing an image of a reference surface as a reference image: capturing a current image; calculating a fixed pattern according to a difference between the reference image and the current image; calculating a dirtiness level of the image sensor according to the fixed pattern; and generating a notifying message if the dirtiness level is higher than a dirtiness threshold. The dirtiness level of the image sensor can be automatically determined by the robot cleaner, thus the user can be notified before the auto clean machine cannot normally operate.

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a robot and a control method therefor. In the robot control method, a robot may acquire posture data of a user in response to a posture interaction wakeup instruction, determine a target operation region according to the posture data of the user, and in case that the target operation region is different from a region that a current position of the robot belongs to, move to the target operation region so as to perform a set operation task. Further, the robot implements operations while moving based on user postures without the limitation of region division, thereby further improving the robot control flexibility.

Provided are a robot cleaner and a method for controlling the same, which are capable of determining the presence or absence of a liquid based on an image captured by a camera. The robot cleaner includes a cleaner body including a traveling part, a camera provided on one surface of the cleaner body and configured to acquire an image of surroundings of the cleaner body, and a controller provided in the cleaner body and configured to control the traveling part. The controller is configured to divide an image acquired by the camera into a plurality of images with respect to a reference line, and determine the presence or absence of a liquid based on two or more images among the plurality of divided images.

A robot cleaner and a control method thereof are disclosed. A robot cleaner, according to an embodiment of the present invention, comprises: a tilt sensor module; a distance sensor module; and a light amount sensor module. Each piece of sensed information is transmitted to a lifting information calculation module. The lifting information calculation module calculates information on whether the robot cleaner is lifted, by using each piece of the transmitted information. If it is calculated that the robot cleaner is lifted off a floor, a power module is stopped. In addition, if it is calculated that the robot cleaner is not lifted off the floor, the power module is driven. Accordingly, when a user lifts the robot cleaner, injuries to the user caused by operation of a drive module can be prevented.

A robot vacuum cleaner and a control method therefor are disclosed. A robot vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises an acceleration change sensor module and a distance sensor module. Each piece of detected information is transmitted to an obstacle-passing information calculation module. The obstacle-passing information calculation module uses each piece of transmitted information so as to calculate information about whether an obstacle is present on one side of the robot vacuum cleaner and information about whether the robot vacuum cleaner can pass the obstacle on the one side. When the inability of the robot vacuum cleaner to pass the obstacle on the one side is calculated, a power module is driven so that the robot vacuum cleaner avoids the obstacle. Therefore, the robot vacuum cleaner can be prevented from going on an obstacle such as a carpet. In addition, the robot vacuum cleaner can be prevented from passing an obstacle such as a door sill so as not to leave a cleaning area.

A docking station, a mobile robot, and a mobile robot management method for controlling a docking station and a mobile robot are provided. The mobile robot includes a management method wherein, in order to display information associated with a docking station to an output device of a mobile robot or transmit the information to a user terminal device connected to the mobile robot, the mobile robot transmits, to the user terminal device, information received from the docking station.

A robot cleaner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a light receiving sensor configured to measure a brightness of a floor surface; an illumination part configured to irradiate the floor surface with light; a rotation device connected to the illumination part and configured to adjust a rotational angle of the illumination part; an capturing part configured to capture an image of the floor surface; a memory part that stores the image of the floor surface captured by the capturing part; a driving part including an electric motor and wheels; a vacuum suction part configured to perform a vacuum suction by being supplied with power from the electric motor; and a control part. The control part determines an operation in a capturing mode in the capturing mode and a cleaning mode when a value input from the light receiving sensor is determined to be equal to or lower than a predetermined value.

An artificial intelligence (AI) mobile robot and a method of controlling the same for learning an obstacle are configured to capture an image while traveling through an image acquirer, to store a plurality of captured image data, to determine an obstacle from image data, to set a response motion corresponding to the obstacle, and to operate the set response motion depending on the obstacle, and thus, the obstacle is recognized through the captured image data, the obstacle is easily determined by repeatedly learning an image, and the obstacle is determined before the obstacle is detected or from a time point of detecting the obstacle to perform an operation of a response motion, and even if the same detection signal is input when a plurality of different obstacles is detected, the obstacle is determined through the image and different operations are performed depending on the obstacle to respond to various obstacles, and accordingly, the obstacle is effectively avoided and an operation is performed depending on a type of the obstacle.

An artificial intelligence (AI) cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a memory, a movement detect sensor, a driving unit configured to allow the AI cleaner to be moved, and a processor configured to control the movement sensor to sense a movement of the AI cleaner by a user and acquire a position to which the AI cleaner has moved while the AI cleaner operates at a first cleaning mode and control the driving unit to allow the AI cleaner to clean a priority cleaning area corresponding to the position at a second cleaning mode.

A robotic vacuum cleaner may include a housing, a displaceable bumper, an emitter/detector pair, and at least one divider. The displaceable bumper may be moveably coupled to the housing and may be configured to be displaced along at least one axis. The emitter/detector pair may have an emitter and a detector, wherein the emitter is configured to emit light through at least a portion of the displaceable bumper. The at least one divider may be disposed between the emitter and the detector of the emitter/detector pair.