Abstract
The invention pertains to a system consisting of a first floor treatment apparatus that is exclusively guided manually within an environment by a user and a second floor treatment apparatus that is exclusively operated automatically, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus is designed for orienting and localizing itself within an environment. The first floor treatment apparatus is designed for detecting a movement path of the first floor treatment apparatus during a movement of the first floor treatment apparatus that is manually guided by a user, as well as for transmitting information on the detected movement path to the second floor treatment apparatus by means of wireless communication. The second floor treatment apparatus is designed for receiving the information and for autonomously traveling along the movement path within the environment based on the received information.
Claims
1. A system consisting of a first floor treatment apparatus (1) in a form of a first floor cleaning apparatus that is exclusively guided manually within an environment by a user and a second floor treatment apparatus (2) in a form of a second floor cleaning apparatus that is exclusively operated automatically, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) is designed for orienting and localizing itself within the environment, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) is designed for detecting a movement path (3) of the first floor treatment apparatus (1) during a movement of the first floor treatment apparatus (1) that is manually guided by the user, as well as for transmitting information on the detected movement path (3) to the second floor treatment apparatus (2) by means of wireless communication, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) is designed for receiving the information and for autonomously traveling along the movement path (3) within the environment based on the received information.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) is designed for detecting a floor treatment activity in a form of a cleaning activity carried out by the first floor treatment apparatus (1) during a user-guided movement of the first floor treatment apparatus (1), as well as for transmitting information on the floor treatment activity to the second floor treatment apparatus (2) by means of wireless communication, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) is designed for receiving the information and for automatically carrying out the floor treatment activity.
3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) and the second floor treatment apparatus (2) have corresponding communication modules (4) for wireless communication of the information on the movement path (3) and/or the floor treatment activity.
4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) has a detection device (5, 6, 7) selected from the following group: camera, laser scanner (19), floor sensor for detecting a type of surface to be treated, dirt sensor for detecting a type or degree of a dirt accumulation on the surface to be treated, sensor for determining a power of a driving motor, distance sensor, inertial sensor, time sensor and contact sensor.
5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) and/or the second floor treatment apparatus (2) has an evaluation device (8) that is designed for determining at least one of the following types of information from detection signals of the detection device (5, 6, 7): the movement path (3) of the first floor treatment apparatus (1) in the environment, an environment map (9), a treatment status (10) of a section (11, 12) of the environment, a position of a treated section (11, 12), an untreated section and/or a section that is not accessible to the first floor treatment apparatus (1), the floor type, the type of dirt accumulation, the degree of dirt accumulation, an accessory suitable for use by the first floor treatment apparatus (1) for floor treatment purposes, 3D environment information and obstacle information.
6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) has an actuation element (13) that can be actuated by the user and enables the user to mark sections (11, 12) of the environment stored in an environment map (9) and/or positions of the movement path (3) during a movement of the first floor treatment apparatus (1) and/or during a floor treatment activity.
7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) is designed for transmitting information on the marked sections (11, 12) and/or positions to the second floor treatment apparatus (2), wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) has a control and evaluation device (8) that is designed for controlling a defined floor treatment activity of the second floor treatment apparatus (2) within the marked sections (11, 12) or at the marked position or for avoiding the marked sections (11, 12) or the position as a no-go area during the floor treatment activity.
8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the floor treatment activity of the second floor treatment apparatus (2) defined for the marked sections (11, 12) or the marked position differs from the floor treatment activity carried out by the first floor treatment apparatus (1) in the marked sections (11, 12) or at the marked position.
9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the defined floor treatment activity of the second floor treatment apparatus (2) comprises intensive cleaning or gentle cleaning of the marked sections (11, 12) or the marked position.
10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) is designed for transmitting information concerning the environment to the first floor treatment apparatus (1) after the second floor treatment apparatus has traveled along the movement path (3) and/or after the second floor treatment apparatus has carried out the floor treatment activity, wherein said information is selected from the following group: an environment map (9) of the environment generated by the second floor treatment apparatus (2), a section (11, 12) of the environment and/or a position of the movement path (3) to be cleaned manually by the first floor treatment apparatus (1) and a section (11, 12) or position that contains a movable obstacle (14) to be removed by the user.
11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) has a display unit (15) for displaying the information transmitted by the second floor treatment apparatus (2).
12. A method for operating the system according to claim 1, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) is exclusively guided manually within an environment by the user, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) is exclusively operated automatically, and wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) orients and localizes itself within the environment, wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) detects the movement path (3) of the first floor treatment apparatus (1) during the movement of the first floor treatment apparatus (1) that is manually guided by the user and transmits information on the detected movement path (3) to the second floor treatment apparatus (2) by means of wireless communication, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) receives the information and autonomously travels along the movement path (3) within the environment based on the received information, and/or wherein the first floor treatment apparatus (1) detects a floor treatment activity carried out by the first floor treatment apparatus (1) during the movement of the first floor treatment apparatus and transmits information on the floor treatment activity to the second floor treatment apparatus (2) by means of wireless communication, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus (2) receives the information and automatically carries out the floor treatment activity.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The invention is described in greater detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments. In the drawings:
(2) FIG. 1 shows an environment with a system consisting of a first floor treatment apparatus and a second floor treatment apparatus,
(3) FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the first floor treatment apparatus,
(4) FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of the second floor treatment apparatus,
(5) FIG. 4 shows a section of the environment with a movement path of the first floor treatment apparatus,
(6) FIG. 5 shows the second floor treatment apparatus with an environment map, and
(7) FIG. 6 shows the first floor treatment apparatus with a display unit for displaying information.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
(8) FIG. 1 schematically shows a floor plan of a residence with multiple rooms. An inventive system, which consists of a first floor treatment apparatus 1 that is exclusively guided manually by a user and a second floor treatment apparatus 1 that is exclusively operated automatically, is located in the residence. In this example, the first floor treatment apparatus 1 is a hand-operated vacuum cleaner, which is described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 2. The automatically operated floor treatment apparatus 2 is in this example a vacuuming robot, which is described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 3. The environment of the floor treatment apparatuses 1, 2 comprises conventional room boundaries such as walls and obstacles 14, which may or may not be movable by a user. Examples of obstacles 14 that can be easily removed by a user are flower pots, vases, small pieces of furniture or the like. Obstacles 14 that cannot be readily moved or removed include, for example, heavy pieces of furniture, pianos, large loudspeakers or the like. A base station 16 for the automatically operated second floor treatment apparatus 2 is located in the environment. This base station 16 has devices and means for carrying out service activities on the automatically operated second floor treatment apparatus 2 or optionally also on other floor treatment apparatuses 1, 2. Such service activities include, for example, charging an accumulator of a floor treatment apparatus 1, 2, emptying a dust collection bin of a floor treatment apparatus 1, 2, cleaning a floor treatment element 17 of a floor treatment apparatus 1, 2 or the like.
(9) The floor treatment apparatuses 1, 2 are now described in greater detail. According to FIGS. 1 and 2, the floor treatment apparatus 1 being manually guided by a user has a base unit 21, as well as a floor nozzle 20 that is separably connected to the base unit 21. In this example, the floor nozzle 20 is a vacuum nozzle with a not-shown cleaning brush that forms a floor treatment element 17. The floor nozzle 20 has wheels 18 in order to move the floor treatment apparatus 1 as a whole over a floor to be cleaned with little resistance. To this end, the wheels 18 or also the floor treatment element 17 may be driven by a motor in order to assist in the movement of the floor treatment apparatus 1 and to simplify the handling of the floor treatment apparatus 1 for a user. The base unit 21 has a shaft 22 with a handle 23. A not-shown switch may be provided on the handle 23 in order to enable a user to activate and deactivate the floor treatment apparatus 1, as well as to optionally adjust different power stages or the like. In this case, the handle 23 is furthermore equipped with an actuation element 13 that is functionally connected to a detection device 7, namely a contact sensor. The actuation element 13 can be depressed by a user such that the contact sensor registers a corresponding contact signal. The function of the actuation element 13 and the contact sensor is described in greater detail below. Furthermore, a display unit 15 for displaying information to a user of the floor treatment apparatus 1 is located on the handle 23 or alternatively on the shaft 22. The floor treatment apparatus 1 has other detection devices 5, 6, which include a camera (reference symbol 5) arranged on the floor nozzle 20. An additional detection device 6 in the form of an inertial sensor is also associated with the wheels 18 of the floor nozzle 20. The camera records images of the environment that contain, for example, the obstacles 14 on the one hand and the floor surface to be cleaned on the other hand. The inertial sensor detects the wheel revolutions of the wheels 18 such that it is possible to deduce a distance traveled by the floor treatment apparatus and a change of direction of the floor treatment apparatus 1 during its movement through the environment. The base unit 21 of the floor treatment apparatus 1 is furthermore equipped with a computing device 24 that is designed for at least partially processing the signals of the detection devices 5, 6, 7 in such a way that information on the detection signals of the detection devices 5, 6, 7 can be compiled and then transmitted to the second floor treatment apparatus 2 of the system by means of a communication module 4 of the floor treatment apparatus 1. In this example, the communication module 4 is a WLAN module that allows wireless communication between the floor treatment apparatuses 1, 2 of the system.
(10) The automatically operated second floor treatment apparatus 2 illustrated in FIG. 3 has motor-driven wheels 18, as well as a floor treatment element 17 that in this example is realized in the form of a rotating bristle roller, the longitudinal extent of which essentially is oriented horizontally to a floor to be cleaned. The second floor treatment apparatus 2 is likewise equipped with a communication module 4 in the form of a WLAN module in order to receive the information from the first floor treatment apparatus 1. The second floor treatment apparatus 2 furthermore has an evaluation device 8 that is designed for evaluating the information received from the first floor treatment apparatus 1 and for utilizing this information for a floor treatment. In order to enable the second floor treatment apparatus 2 to automatically travel within the environment, it is equipped with a navigation device with a laser scanner 19 that preferably can detect distances from obstacles 14 and boundaries of the rooms of a residence over an angular range of 360°. The evaluation device 8 of the floor treatment apparatus 2 processes this distance data into an environment map 9, an example of which is illustrated in FIG. 5, wherein said environment map contains a floor plan of the environment, the locations of obstacles 14, the position of the base station 16 and the like. The environment map 9 serves for the navigation and self-localization of the second floor treatment apparatus 2 within the environment. For example, the floor treatment apparatus 2 may utilize a so-called SLAM algorithm (Simultaneous Localization And Measurement algorithm) for generating the environment map 9.
(11) The invention is now described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 4-6. The following explanations are merely examples for the utilization of an inventive system. It goes without saying that the floor treatment apparatuses 1, 2 may also be realized differently, i.e. they do not necessarily have to be vacuuming apparatuses, but rather may, for example, also be mopping apparatuses, polishing apparatuses or the like. In addition to the floor treatment apparatuses 1, 2 shown, the system may also comprise a plurality of other floor treatment apparatuses 1, 2 or different apparatuses such as service robots, monitoring robots or the like, which do not carry out any floor treatment activities.
(12) The inventive method is carried out, for example, in that the user manually guides the first floor treatment apparatus 1 over a floor surface of the environment to be cleaned. In the process, the user moves the floor treatment apparatus 1 within a room of the residence illustrated in FIG. 4 and, for example, carries out meander-shaped movements that define a movement path 3 of the first floor treatment apparatus 1. The user guides the floor treatment apparatus 1 in such a way that sections 11 (see FIG. 5) of the environment are omitted, wherein said sections contain obstacles 14 that the floor treatment apparatus 1 should not touch because they have sensitive surfaces, may fall over or the like. The detection devices 5 and 6 of the floor treatment apparatus 1, namely the camera and the inertial sensor, record the movement path 3 of the floor treatment apparatus 1 and transmit this movement path to the computing device 24, which subsequently sends a message to the second floor treatment apparatus 2 by means of the communication module 4, wherein said message contains information on the movement path 3 followed by the user during the cleaning operation. The communication module 4 of the second floor treatment apparatus 2 receives this message and extracts the information in order to transfer the movement path 3 contained therein into an environment map 9, which already exists or still has to be generated by the floor treatment apparatus 2. The control and evaluation device 8 of the second floor treatment apparatus 2 uses the movement path 3 as a basis for generating a control command that steers the second floor treatment apparatus 2 through the environment along an identical or similar movement path 3. This movement path likewise omits the sections 11 of the environment that were avoided by the user. In this example, the first floor treatment apparatus 1 furthermore transmits additional information on a section 12 (see FIG. 5) of the environment with a particularly stubborn dirt accumulation, which the user was unable to remove with a single pass of the floor treatment apparatus 1 and requires intensive cleaning by means of the second floor treatment apparatus 2. The message sent by the first floor treatment apparatus 1 may furthermore contain information on the type of floor treatment activity of the first floor treatment apparatus 1, as well as on special parameters and adjustments of the floor treatment apparatus 1 such as a suction power stage used by the first floor treatment apparatus 1, a floor nozzle 20 used, a floor treatment element 17 used, a moving speed of the floor treatment apparatus 1 over the surface to be cleaned along the movement path 3 and the like. Furthermore, the detection results of the detection devices 5, 6, 7 of the first floor treatment apparatus 1 may also be transmitted to the second floor treatment apparatus 2 and include, for example, a treatment status 10 (dirty/clean) of a section 11, 12 of the environment, a position of a treated section 11, 12, an untreated section and/or a section, in which the first floor treatment apparatus 1 is not allowed to travel, a detected floor type, a type of dirt accumulation, a degree of dirt accumulation or the like. It goes without saying that the first floor treatment apparatus 1 may furthermore comprise other detection devices 5, 6, 7 such as a laser scanner 19, a floor sensor for detecting a type of surface to be treated, a dirt sensor for detecting a type or a degree of dirt accumulation, a sensor for determining the power of a driving motor, a distance sensor and/or a time sensor that provides information on the moving speed of the floor treatment apparatus 1. The message for the second floor treatment apparatus 1 may furthermore contain information on marked sections 11, 12 of the environment that require special floor treatment. To this end, the user can actuate the actuation element 13 on the handle 23 of the floor treatment apparatus 1, e.g. while passing over the severely soiled section 12, in order to mark a segment of the movement path 3, over which the floor treatment apparatus has traveled between a depression and a release of the actuation element 13. This segment of the movement path 3 or the associated section 12 can then be highlighted in the environment map 9. For example, the user may be additionally prompted to define a special floor cleaning activity for this section 12 such as spot cleaning, i.e. intensive cleaning. The control and evaluation device 8 of the second floor treatment apparatus 2 can then correspondingly control the second floor treatment apparatus 2 in such a way that a defined floor treatment activity is carried out within the marked section 12. It is likewise possible to define sections 11, in which the second floor treatment apparatus 2 is not allowed to travel, as so-called no-go areas for the second floor treatment apparatus 2. According to FIG. 5, the environment map 9 used by the second floor treatment apparatus 2 for navigation and floor treatment purposes then contains a variety of information, namely the treatment status 10 of certain sections of the environment such as an exemplary hatching for “not yet cleaned,” information on the positions of sections 11, in which the second floor treatment apparatus 2 is not allowed to travel, information on sections 12 that require special floor treatment, e.g. intensive cleaning, as well as the conventional room boundaries and positions of obstacles 14 within the environment. Furthermore, the movement path 3 corresponding to the movement path 3 of the manually guided first floor treatment apparatus 1 is also plotted in the environment map 9.
(13) After the environment has been cleaned by means of the automatically operated second floor treatment apparatus 2 in accordance with the generated environment map 9, the second floor treatment apparatus 2 can once again transmit information to the manually guided first floor treatment apparatus 1. It is particularly possible to transmit a supplemented environment map 9, which preferably also contains the updated treatment status 10 of the individual sections of the environment. For example, the environment map 9 can be displayed to a user on the display unit 15 of the manually guided floor treatment apparatus 1. It is alternatively and/or additionally also possible to display a cleaning request such as “please clean sections 11 manually” to the user as illustrated in FIG. 6. It is therefore possible to inform the user of the respective location in the environment, in which manual secondary cleaning should still be carried out due to a severe or stubborn dirt accumulation. A request may furthermore also concern sections 11 that contain removable objects such as vases or flower pots, which can be removed by a user in order to also allow cleaning in these sections. The user can decide and/or confirm if the aforementioned sections 11, 12 are manually cleaned by the user with the first floor treatment apparatus 1 or if these sections should be cleaned automatically by the second floor treatment apparatus 2, optionally with an input via a display unit 15 in the form of a touchscreen. As an alternative to displaying information on a display unit 15 of the floor treatment apparatus 1, a user can also receive corresponding information, for example, on a mobile external device with a corresponding application. During a subsequent manual floor treatment by means of the manually guided first floor treatment apparatus 1, the user can be guided to a particularly soiled location, for example, by direction or position indicators on the first floor treatment apparatus 1, by a projection onto the floor surface or by a display on an application. After the cleaning operation has been carried out, the user confirms the completed secondary cleaning on the floor treatment apparatus 1 or within the application. When an automatically operated second floor treatment apparatus 2 subsequently travels over this location again, it can optionally check if this location is still soiled and accordingly carry out another cleaning operation. It would also be conceivable that the manual cleaning step is omitted and the user instead confirms an intensive cleaning operation by means of the automatically operated second floor treatment apparatus 2.
(14) One particular advantage of the utilization of a system consisting of a first floor treatment apparatus 1 that is exclusively guided manually by a user and a second floor treatment apparatus that is exclusively operated automatically can be seen in that the options, advantages and parameters of the differently designed floor treatment apparatuses 1, 2 can be used for advantageously supplementing one another. In this respect, a movement path or a floor treatment activity, which was previously carried out by means of the first floor treatment apparatus 1, can be advantageously modified by the second floor treatment apparatus 2 in order to utilize advantages of the second floor treatment apparatus 2 such as a smaller apparatus width, special floor treatment elements 17, a higher suction power or a mopping operation, which cannot be realized with the first floor treatment apparatus 1. The movement path 3 and the floor treatment activity of the second floor treatment apparatus 2 therefore can also advantageously differ from those of the first floor treatment apparatus 1.
LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS
(15) 1 First floor treatment apparatus 2 Second floor treatment apparatus 3 Movement path 4 Communication module 5 Detection device 6 Detection device 7 Detection device 8 Evaluation device 9 Environment map 10 Treatment status 11 Section 12 Section 13 Actuation element 14 Obstacle 15 Display unit 16 Base station 17 Floor treatment element 18 Wheel 19 Laser scanner 20 Floor nozzle 21 Base unit 22 Shaft 23 Handle 24 Computing device
