System and method for cleaning a floor using a cleaning robot

Abstract

A system for cleaning a floor by means of at least one cleaning robot, which cleaning robot comprises control means for controlling the cleaning robot and communication means for sensing at least one event having increased soiling emergence of at least part of the floor, wherein the control means set the intensity of the use of the cleaning robot for cleaning at least part of the floor in accordance with the intensity of at least one event having increased soiling emergence. The system solves the technical problem of making a system and a method for cleaning a floor by means of a cleaning robot more flexible and enabling improved cleaning results. The system further relates to a method for cleaning a floor.

Claims

1. A system for cleaning a floor, comprising: at least one cleaning robot, a controller for the at least one cleaning robot, wherein a communication means is configured to detect at least one event with an increased soiling occurrence for at least one part of the floor, and the controller is configured to set an intensity of use of the cleaning robot for cleaning at least one part of the floor depending on an intensity of the at least one event with an increased soiling occurrence.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the communication means identifies an entry of a calendar connectable to the communication means as an event with an increased soiling occurrence.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the communication means identifies an item of weather information from a database as an event with an increased soiling occurrence.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the communication means detects a duration or an intensity of a rainfall event as the intensity of events with an increased soiling occurrence.

5. The system according to claim 3, wherein the communication means detects a number and/or a strength of at least one weather event as the intensity of events with an increased soiling occurrence.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the controller sets the intensity of use of the cleaning robot by changing the frequency and/or the intensity of the cleaning.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the communication means are arranged in the cleaning robot and are connected to the controller, and wherein the communication means are connected to a network by means of a wireless communication link.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the communication means are arranged outside the cleaning robot and are connected to a network, and wherein the communication means are connected to the controller by means of a wireless communication link.

9. A method for cleaning a floor using a cleaning robot, comprising detecting at least one event with an increased soiling occurrence for at least one part of the floor, and setting an intensity of use of the cleaning robot for cleaning at least one part of the floor depending on the intensity of at least one event with an increased soiling occurrence.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising identifying an entry of a calendar connectable to a communication means as an event with an increased soiling occurrence.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising identifying an item of weather information from a database as an event with an increased soiling occurrence.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising detecting a duration or an intensity of a rainfall event as the intensity of events with an increased soiling occurrence.

13. The method according to claim 9, further comprising detecting a number and/or a strength of the at least one event as the intensity of events with an increased soiling occurrence.

14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising setting the intensity of use of the cleaning robot by changing the frequency and/or the intensity of the cleaning.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention is explained below by means of exemplary embodiments with reference to the figures.

(2) FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a cleaning robot according to the invention in a perspective view from above,

(3) FIG. 2 shows the cleaning robot illustrated in FIG. 1 in a perspective view from below and

(4) FIG. 3 shows a system according to the invention for cleaning a floor.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) A cleaning robot according to the invention in the form of a vacuuming robot 2 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The vacuuming robot 2 has a housing 4, running gear 6 arranged on the underside of the housing 4, a sensor system 8 for detecting the area surrounding the housing 4 and a control for automatically driving the running gear 6.

(6) The running gear 6 is arranged on the underside of the housing 4 and faces the floor area to be cleaned. The running gear 6 has two electric motor powered drive wheels 10 and an idler wheel 11, so that a three-point support of the floor cleaning robot 2 is obtained on the floor area to be cleaned. By controlling the two drive wheels 10 differently, the vacuuming robot 2 can be moved in any direction, wherein a forward movement in the direction of the arrow r is carried out according to FIG. 1. A rotation on the spot and a backward movement in the opposite direction of the arrow r are equally possible.

(7) As emerges from FIG. 2 in particular, on the underside of the housing 4 an electric motor powered brush 12 protruding beyond the bottom edge is arranged inside a suction opening 14. In addition, a suction fan motor (not illustrated) is provided which is also electrically powered. A dustpan-like ramp 16 is also provided, via which the brushed-up dirt particles are conveyed into a container-like receptacle (not illustrated).

(8) The electric power is supplied to the individual components of the vacuuming robot 2, i.e. to the electric motor of the of the drive wheels 10, to the electric drive of the brush 12, to the suction fan and to the further electronics of the control by means of a rechargeable battery (not illustrated).

(9) In order to be able to identify the surroundings, room boundaries and possible obstacles and in order in particular to prevent the vacuuming robot 2 from getting stuck, the sensor system 8, which has already been mentioned, is provided which is designed as a sensory obstacle detection system. This consists of an optical transmitting unit and an optical receiver unit which are both integrated in the sensor system 8 illustrated in FIG. 1. In this exemplary embodiment, the sensor system 8 is arranged rotatably about a vertical axis x of the housing 4, as is illustrated with the arrow c in FIG. 1. Further sensors 20, 22 and 26 are present which are designed as ultrasonic sensors and/or infrared sensors. In addition, a display 26 is provided which displays information for the user and, where required, serves as an input assistance for operation commands.

(10) FIG. 3 now shows a system according to the invention for a cleaning a floor having at least one cleaning robot 2, which can be designed as a vacuuming robot for example as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, in an exemplary environment of a dwelling 30 which has two rooms 32 and 34. FIG. 3 also shows a floor plan of the dwelling with walls 36, entrance door 38 and room door 39 and window 40.

(11) A vacuuming robot 2 is located in the room 32 and is attached to a base station 42 for charging with mains voltage at least one battery 44 provided in the vacuuming robot 2. The base station 42 is positioned in the room 32 and is attached to an electrical socket 46.

(12) The vacuuming robot 2 has control means 50 (i.e. a controller 50) for controlling the vacuuming robot 2 and communication means 52 for detecting at least one event with an increased soiling occurrence for at least one part of the floor. The communication means 52 have a transmitting and receiving device for wireless communication with a transmitting and receiving device arranged in the room 32 as communication means 54. The wireless communication takes place according to a standardized procedure such as WLAN or Bluetooth.

(13) In addition, the communication means 52 can also have a mobile radio device, so that in this case no communication means 54 are required.

(14) The communication means 52 and, where required, 54 can be connected to a local or external network, in particular to the internet, by means of a cable connection or wirelessly, in order to detect information about events with an increased soiling occurrence.

(15) The control means 50 are connected to the communication means 52 and receive data regarding one of more events via this connection. The control means 50 set the intensity of the use of the vacuuming robot 2 for cleaning at least one part of the floor depending on the intensity of at least one event with an increased soiling occurrence.

(16) An example of events consists in the communication means 52 identifying an entry in a calendar connectable to the communication means 52 and, where required, 54 as an event with an increased soiling occurrence. This calendar can be the personal calendar of a person living in the dwelling, a so-called family calendar for several people or some other calendar. The manner of managing the calendar can be carried out by different programs or service providers.

(17) The communication means 52 searches for prespecified key terms, such as party, meal, get-together, meeting, football, possibly in combination with the terms at home, garden, living room in the calendar entries. On discovering one of these terms or combinations of terms, the communication means 52 determine an event with an increased soiling occurrence. This is because the corresponding calendar entries indicate an intensive use of the dwelling or of parts of the dwelling.

(18) In the case of the events mentioned, a higher level of cleanliness within the dwelling is also important, with the result that the control means 50 can also activate the vacuuming robot 2 to carry out an additional cleaning operation before the event.

(19) Additionally or alternatively, the communication means 52 can identify an item of weather information from a database as an event with an increased soiling occurrence. The communication means 52 access weather data from the network, preferably from the internet, via the wireless link for this purpose.

(20) The communication means 52 searches for prespecified key terms in the weather data and detects the local weather events in the coming period of time. The terms rain, snow, mud, wind, storm or combinations of these terms can be used as key terms. In addition, at least one seasons calendar can also be used, in order to detect general weather trends.

(21) The communication means 52 can in particular detect the duration or the intensity of a rainfall event as the intensity of events with an increased soiling occurrence from the described identified weather data. This is because rain or snow events in particular result in increased soiling in the course of normal use of the dwelling.

(22) The communication means 52 can additionally or alternatively detect the number and/or the strength of weather events as the intensity of events with an increased soiling occurrence. This information also serves to be able to estimate the degree of soiling of the dwelling.

(23) The above described control means 50 set the intensity of the use of the vacuuming robot 2 by changing the frequency and/or the intensity of the cleaning depending on the data of the detected events. Hence, the dwelling 30 can be cleaned more often and/or more intensively by means of the vacuuming robot 2 in addition to an entered, planned time schedule. If no time schedule is entered, then the control can plan and carry out the cleaning of the dwelling 30 independently.

(24) Furthermore, the spatial extent of the cleaning of the dwelling 30 can also be set by the events data. If, for example, it is detected that an event is going to take place in the living room (room 32 in FIG. 3), in which several people are visiting, then the control 50 can get the vacuuming robot 2 to, possibly additionally, clean only the room 32 and not the room 30 (bedroom) after this event. If, on the other hand, for example a rain event is determined, then the control 50 can activate the vacuuming robot 2 in such a way that the area in front of the entrance door 38 is cleaned more intensively than other areas of the dwelling 30.

(25) The system was previously described such that the communication means 52 are arranged in the vacuuming robot 2 and connected to the control means 50 and such that the communication means 52 are connected by means of a wireless communication link to a network via the device 54. As a result, the vacuuming robot 2 is autonomous with regard to data retrieval, evaluation and control.

(26) In addition, it is also possible for the communication means 54 to be arranged outside the vacuuming robot 2 and connected to a network and for the communication means 54 to be connected via the communication means 52 to the control means 50 by means of a wireless communication link. In this case, the data retrieval takes place outside the vacuuming robot 2. Such a system then offers the possibility of providing more than one vacuuming robot 2 with the events data and of organizing a larger living area than is illustrated in FIG. 3.