COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR A ROBOT FOR OPERATING A DOMESTIC DISHWASHER, AND SYSTEM COMPRISING A DOMESTIC DISHWASHER AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR A ROBOT

Abstract

A computer program product for a robot which includes a computer for operating a household dishwasher having a plurality of treatment programs is disclosed. The computer program product includes a non-transitory computer readable medium having commands which when the computer program product is run by the computer prompt the robot to carry out the steps of loading dishwasher skills which are specific to the household dishwasher from a storage device, and carrying out at least some of the loaded dishwasher skills in order to operate the household dishwasher.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A computer program product for a robot which comprises a computer for operating a household dishwasher having a plurality of treatment programs, said computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising commands which when the computer program product is run by the computer prompt the robot to carry out the steps of: loading dishwasher skills which are specific to the household dishwasher from a storage device, and carrying out at least some of the loaded dishwasher skills in order to operate the household dishwasher.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising further commands which when the computer program product is run by the computer prompt the robot to carry out the steps of: identifying a type of the household dishwasher, loading dishwasher skills which are specific to the identified type of the household dishwasher from the storage device, and carrying out at least some of the loaded dishwasher skills in order to operate the household dishwasher.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising further commands which when the computer program product is run by the computer prompt the robot to carry out the steps of: receiving a signal indicative of a user input by a user, selecting at least one subset of loaded dishwasher skills as a function of the received signal, and carrying out the selected subset of loaded dishwasher skills in order to operate the household dishwasher.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the loaded dishwasher skills comprise at least one member selected from the group consisting of loading the household dishwasher with items to be washed, selecting and starting one of the plurality of treatment programs of the household dishwasher, unloading items to be washed from the household dishwasher, introducing detergent into the household dishwasher, actuating an adjustable part of one or more receptacles for items to be washed of a washing container of the household dishwasher, adjusting a cup support in a washing container of the household dishwasher, removing a removable holder from a washing container of the household dishwasher, and arranging a removable holder in a washing container of the household dishwasher.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the loaded dishwasher skills comprise at least one member selected from the group consisting of detecting a first optical sensor signal of items to be washed, detecting a second optical sensor signal of a washing container of the household dishwasher, and detecting a third optical sensor signal of a detergent for washing items to be washed.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the first, second and third optical sensor signals are detected by an optical sensor of the robot.

21. The computer program product as claimed in claim 19, wherein the loaded dishwasher skills comprise an object recognition of the items to be washed based on the detected first optical sensor signal, an object recognition of objects located in the washing container based on the detected second optical sensor signal, and/or an object recognition of the detergent based on the detected third optical sensor signal.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the loaded dishwasher skills comprise a transmission of data of the first, second and third optical sensor signals and/or data indicative of the object recognition, from and to the household dishwasher.

23. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the loaded dishwasher skills comprise at least one member selected from the group consisting of an output of a recommendation to a user for operating the household dishwasher, an output of an instruction to a user for maintenance of the household dishwasher, a maintenance of the household dishwasher by the robot, and a provision of feedback relative to a treatment program performed by the household dishwasher.

24. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising further commands which when the computer program product is run by the computer prompt the robot to carry out the step of generating a further one of the dishwasher skills based on a loaded instruction manual of the household dishwasher, based on a loaded handbook of the household dishwasher, and/or based on tracked usage data of the household dishwasher.

25. The computer program product as claimed in claim 15, wherein the storage device is part of a cloud.

26. A system, comprising: a household dishwasher including a plurality of treatment programs; and a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising commands which when the computer program product is run causes execution of the steps of loading dishwasher skills which are specific to the household dishwasher from a storage device, and carrying out at least some of the loaded dishwasher skills in order to operate the household dishwasher.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising a robot comprising a computer configured to run the computer program product for operating the household dishwasher.

28. A method for operating a robot comprising a computer for operating a household dishwasher which includes a plurality of treatment programs, said method comprising: storing dishwasher skills which are specific to the household dishwasher in the robot; and carrying out at least some of the loaded dishwasher skills by the robot in order to operate the household dishwasher.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the dishwasher skills are generated based on an instruction manual of the household dishwasher, based on a handbook of the household dishwasher, and/or based on usage data of the household dishwasher tracked during operation of the household dishwasher.

Description

[0081] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a first exemplary embodiment of a system comprising a household dishwasher and a robot;

[0082] FIG. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of a second exemplary embodiment of a system comprising a household dishwasher and a robot;

[0083] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of a first exemplary embodiment of a computer program product for the robot according to FIG. 1 or FIG. 2;

[0084] FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of a second exemplary embodiment of a computer program product for the robot according to FIG. 1 or FIG. 2;

[0085] FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of a third exemplary embodiment of a computer program product for the robot according to FIG. 1 or FIG. 2; and

[0086] FIG. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a method for operating a robot.

[0087] Elements which are the same or functionally the same have been provided in the figures with the same reference characters, unless specified otherwise.

[0088] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a system comprising a household dishwasher 1 and a robot 200. The household dishwasher 1 comprises a washing container 2 which may be closed by a door 3, in particular in a water-tight manner. To this end, a sealing device (not shown) may be provided between the door 3 and the washing container 2. The washing container 2 is preferably cuboidal. The washing container 2 may be arranged in a housing of the household dishwasher 1. The washing container 2 and the door 3 may form a washing chamber 4 for washing items to be washed.

[0089] The door 3 is shown in FIG. 1 in the open position thereof. The door 3 may be closed or opened by pivoting about a pivot axis 5 provided at a lower end of the door 3. A loading opening 6 of the washing container 2 may be closed or opened by means of the door 3. The washing container 2 has a bottom 7, a ceiling 8 arranged opposite the bottom 7, a rear wall 9 arranged opposite the closed door 3 and two side walls 10, 11 arranged opposite one another. The bottom 7, the ceiling 8, the rear wall 9 and the side walls 10, 11 may be produced, for example, from a stainless steel sheet. The bottom 7 may be produced alternatively from a plastics material, for example.

[0090] The household dishwasher 1 also has at least one receptacle for items to be washed 12, 13, 14. Preferably, a plurality of receptacles for items to be washed 12, 13, 14, for example three thereof, may be provided, wherein the receptacle for items to be washed 12 may be a lower receptacle for items to be washed or a lower basket, the receptacle for items to be washed 13 may be an upper receptacle for items to be washed or an upper basket, and the receptacle for items to be washed 14 may be a cutlery drawer. As FIG. 1 also shows, the receptacles for items to be washed 12, 13, 14 are arranged one above the other in the washing container 2. Each receptacle for items to be washed 12, 13, 14 is able to be displaced selectively into or out of the washing container 2. In particular, each receptacle for items to be washed 12, 13, 14 is able to be pushed into the washing container 2 in a push-in direction R1 and pulled out of the washing container 2 in a pull-out direction R2 counter to the push-in direction R1.

[0091] The household dishwasher 1 additionally has a control device 100. The control device 100 is designed to carry out a treatment program from a plurality of treatment programs. The treatment program is, for example, a washing program for washing items to be washed in the washing container 2.

[0092] The robot 200 of FIG. 1 is, for example, a universal robot for assisting in the household. The robot 200 comprises a computer 210 and a storage device 220. A computer program product 230 is occasionally stored in the storage device 220.

[0093] The computer program product 230 for the robot 200 is designed to operate the household dishwasher 1. The computer program product 230 comprises commands which prompt the robot 200 to carry out the steps shown in FIG. 3 for the computer program product 230, when the computer program product 230 is run by the computer 210.

[0094] In a step L a dishwasher skill GS which is specific to the household dishwasher 1 is loaded from a storage device 220 or 300. To this end, FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment in which the dishwasher skill or the dishwasher skills are loaded from the storage device 220 of the robot into the computer 210 of the robot 200. FIG. 2 shows an alternative in which the robot 200 is coupled to a cloud storage device 300 via a network 400, for example the Internet. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 2, the dishwasher skill GS or the dishwasher skills GS is or are loaded from the cloud storage device 300 via the network 400 into the computer 210 of the robot 200.

[0095] In a step A (see FIG. 3) at least some of the loaded dishwasher skills GS are carried out in order to operate the household dishwasher 1. Examples of the dishwasher skills GS comprise: loading the household dishwasher 1 with items to be washed, selecting and starting one of the treatment programs of the household dishwasher 1, unloading items to be washed from the household dishwasher 1, introducing detergent into the household dishwasher 1, actuating an adjustable part of one of the receptacles for items to be washed 12, 13, 14 of the washing container 2 of the household dishwasher 1, adjusting a cup support in the washing container 2, removing a removable holder from the washing container, arranging a removable holder in the washing container 2, detecting a first optical sensor signal of items to be washed, detecting a second optical sensor signal of a washing container 2, detecting a third optical sensor signal of a detergent for washing the items to be washed, object recognition of items to be washed on the basis of the detected first optical sensor signal, object recognition of objects located in the washing container 2 on the basis of the detected second optical sensor signal, object recognition of the detergent on the basis of the detected third optical sensor signal, transmission of data from and to the household dishwasher 1, output of a recommendation to the user for operating the household dishwasher 1, output of an instruction to the user for the maintenance of the household dishwasher 1, maintenance of the household dishwasher 1 by the robot 200 and provision of feedback relative to a treatment program performed by the household dishwasher 1.

[0096] The computer program product 230 may also be designed to generate a dishwasher skill GS itself, and namely on the basis of a loaded instruction manual of the household dishwasher 1, on the basis of a loaded handbook of the household dishwasher 1 and/or on the basis of tracked usage data of the household dishwasher 1.

[0097] The double arrow in FIG. 1 shows a communication interface KS which is configured between the household dishwasher 1 and the robot 200. The communication interface KS comprises, for example, Bluetooth or WLAN.

[0098] In FIG. 4 a second exemplary embodiment of the computer program product 230 is illustrated. The computer program product 230 of FIG. 4 comprises the following steps:

[0099] In a step I a type of household dishwasher 1 is identified. To this end, the robot 200 uses, for example, an optical sensor 240 (see FIG. 2) for detecting an optical sensor signal of the household dishwasher 1.

[0100] In a step L dishwasher skills GS which are specific to the identified type of household dishwasher 1 are loaded from the storage device 220 and/or from the storage device 300.

[0101] In a step A at least some of the loaded dishwasher skills GS are carried out in order to operate the household dishwasher 1.

[0102] FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of a third exemplary embodiment of the computer program product 230 for the robot 200 according to FIG. 1 or FIG. 2. The computer program product 230 of FIG. 5 comprises the following four steps:

[0103] In a step L dishwasher skills GS which are specific to the household dishwasher 1 are loaded from a storage device 220 or 300. In a step E a signal indicative of a user input by a user is received. In a step W a subset of loaded dishwasher skills GS is selected as a function of the received signal. In a step A the selected subset of loaded dishwasher skills GS is carried out in order to operate the household dishwasher 1.

[0104] FIG. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a method for operating a robot 200. Such a robot 200 is shown, for example, in FIG. 1 or in FIG. 2. The robot 200 comprises a computer 210 for operating a household dishwasher 1 (see FIG. 1 or FIG. 2) having a plurality of treatment programs. The method according to FIG. 6 comprises the steps S1 and S2:

[0105] In step S1 dishwasher skills GS which are specific to the household dishwasher 1 are stored in the robot 200, for example in the storage device 220 of FIG. 1.

[0106] In step S2 at least some of the loaded dishwasher skills GS are carried out by the robot 200 in order to operate the household dishwasher 1. The dishwasher skills GS are preferably generated on the basis of an instruction manual of the household dishwasher 1, on the basis of a handbook of the household dishwasher 1 and/or on the basis of usage data of the household dishwasher 1 tracked during the operation of the household dishwasher 1. The tracked usage data is transmitted, for example, via the communication interface KS of FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 from the household dishwasher 1 to the robot 200.

[0107] Whilst the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it may be modified in many different ways.

REFERENCE CHARACTERS USED

[0108] 1 Household dishwasher [0109] 2 Washing container [0110] 3 Door [0111] 4 Washing chamber [0112] 5 Pivot axis [0113] 6 Loading opening [0114] 7 Bottom [0115] 8 Ceiling [0116] 9 Rear wall [0117] 10 Side wall [0118] 11 Side wall [0119] 12 Receptacle for items to be washed [0120] 13 Receptacle for items to be washed [0121] 14 Receptacle for items to be washed [0122] 100 Control device [0123] 200 Robot [0124] 210 Computer [0125] 220 Storage device [0126] 230 Computer program product [0127] 240 Optical sensor [0128] 300 Storage device [0129] 400 Network [0130] KS Communication interface [0131] R1 Pull-out direction [0132] R2 Push-in direction [0133] S1 Method step [0134] S2 Method step [0135] S3 Method step