Household Robot and Method for Operating a Household Robot

Abstract

The invention relates to a household robot, in particular an automatically movable cleaning robot for a floor area, having a housing, having running gear which is arranged on the underside of the housing, having a sensor system for detecting the area surrounding the housing and having a control for automatically controlling the running gear, in which the technical problem of preventing soiling by excrement from a living being is solved by providing detection element for detecting a sub-area of the floor area which has been soiled by excrement from a living being and by the control element changing the operating mode of the household robot dependent on an output signal from the detection element. The invention also relates to a method for operating a household robot.

Claims

1.-13. (canceled)

14. A household robot comprising: a housing, a running gear which is arranged on the underside of the housing, a sensor system for detecting the area surrounding the housing, and a control for automatically controlling the running gear, wherein detection means for detecting a sub-area of the floor area which has been soiled by excrement from a living being are provided, wherein the control means change the operating mode of the household robot in dependency of an output signal from the detection means, and wherein the control means control the running gear in order to at least partly prevent the soiled sub-area from being driven over.

15. The household robot according to claim 14, wherein a cleaning mechanism is provided, and the control means at least partly prevent the soiled sub-area from being cleaned in dependency of an output signal from the detection means.

16. The household robot according to claim 14, wherein the detection means have at least one infrared camera for recording a thermal image of the surroundings of the housing, evaluation means are provided for evaluating the thermal image, and the control then at least partly prevents the soiled sub-area from being driven over and cleaned if at least one sub-area of the thermal image has a predefined difference in temperature to the further surroundings.

17. The household robot according to claim 14, wherein the detection means have at least one gas sensor for detecting at least one specific gas concentration, evaluation means for evaluating the specific gas concentration are provided, and the control then at least partly prevents the soiled sub-area from being driven over and/or cleaned if the specific gas concentration exceeds a predefined limit value.

18. The household robot according to claim 17, wherein the at least one gas sensor detects at least one specific concentration of methane, ammonia, butanoic acid, phenol, caproic acid, mercaptans or of hydrogen sulphides.

19. A method for operating a household robot having a cleaning mechanism and a running gear, the method comprising the steps of: detecting for the presence of excrement from a living being on the floor area to be cleaned, changing the setting of a function of the household robot when excrement is detected, and changing the setting of the running gear in such a way, that at least partly the soiled sub-area is prevented from being driven over.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the running gear is stopped when excrement is detected.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein when excrement is detected the sub-area of the floor area soiled with the excrement is bypassed.

22. The method according to claim 19, wherein a cleaning mechanism is switched off when excrement is detected.

23. The method according to claim 19, wherein the detection of excrement is shown on a display.

24. The method according to claim 19, wherein the position of the sub-area of the soiled floor area is shown on a display.

Description

[0019] The invention is explained below by means of exemplary embodiments with reference to the figures.

[0020] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a household robot according to the invention in a perspective view from above and

[0021] FIG. 2 shows the household robot illustrated in FIG. 1 in a perspective view from below.

[0022] A household robot according to the invention in the form of a floor cleaning robot 2 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The floor cleaning 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 actuating the running gear 6.

[0023] 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 floor cleaning robot 2 can be moved in any direction, wherein a forward movement in the direction of 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.

[0024] 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).

[0025] The electric power is supplied to the individual components of the floor cleaning 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).

[0026] In order to be able to identify the surroundings, room boundaries and possible obstacles and in order in particular to prevent the floor cleaning 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 rotatable around a vertical axis x of the housing 4, as is illustrated with the arrow c in FIG. 1.

[0027] According to the invention, detection means 20 are provided for detecting a sub-area of the floor area soiled by excrement from a living being, on which the floor cleaning robot 2 is located, and the control means change the operating mode of the floor cleaning robot 2 dependent on an output signal from the detection means 20. To that end, the control means can control the running gear 6 in such a way that the floor cleaning robot 2 is at least partly prevented from travelling over the soiled sub-area. Alternatively or in addition, the control means can at least partly prevent the soiled sub-area from being cleaned dependent on an output signal from the detection means 20.

[0028] The detection means 20 can be designed differently, as described below.

[0029] In the case of the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the detection means 20 have at least one infrared camera 22 for recording a thermal image of the area surrounding the housing 4. Evaluation means (not illustrated), which can also form part of the control, are provided to evaluate the thermal image and the control then at least partly prevents the soiled sub-area from being travelled over and cleaned if at least one sub-area of the thermal image has a predefined difference in temperature to the rest of the surrounding area. In particular, during evaluation a temperature difference which is greater than or equal to 5? C. is looked for in the thermal image taken.

[0030] The activity of the infrared camera 22 can also be shut down, in order to prevent misinterpretations occurring when evaluating the camera signal in rooms which have underfloor heating. A further option consists in detecting regular contours or edges in the image signal of the infrared camera and assigning them to the room. The floor surface can, for example, be heated by rays of sunshine, electric cables or heating pipes, whereby regular contours and edges exist.

[0031] A further alternative for the design of the detection means is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this case, the detection means 20 have a gas sensor 24 and/or 26 for detecting at least one specific gas concentration. The evaluation means already referred to are provided for evaluating the specific gas concentration and the control then at least partly prevents the soiled sub-area from being travelled over and cleaned if the specific gas concentration of at least one sensor 24, 26 exceeds a predefined limit value.

[0032] The gas sensor 24 is arranged on the housing 4 in the main direction of travel r. The alternative gas sensor 26, on the other hand, is arranged on the underside of the housing 4 in the area of the suction mouth 14. Thus, in the illustrated exemplary embodiment, two gas sensors 24 and 26 are provided. However, it is also possible for only one of the two gas sensors to be used or for even more gas sensors to be arranged at different places in or on the housing 4.

[0033] The gas sensors 24 and/or 26 are able to analyse the surrounding air with respect to a specific gas concentration. The sensor 24 and/or 26 can detect at least one specific concentration of methane, ammonia, butanoic acid, phenol, caproic acid, mercaptans or of hydrogen sulphides. These specific gases are characteristic for excrement of living beings, so that a corresponding output signal, which indicates the presence of excrement, is produced when a limit value of the specific concentration of the gas to be detected is exceeded.

[0034] As is additionally shown in FIG. 1, the housing 4 has a display 30 on its upper side, on which, inter alia, it can be displayed whether and as the case may be where excrement has been detected on the floor area.