Robot cleaner and method for controlling the same

{
  "publication_number": "US11625043B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Robot cleaner and method for controlling the same",
  "abstract": "The present disclosure provides a method for controlling a robot cleaner including a travel operation in which the robot cleaner travels, a recognition operation in which when the robot cleaner contacts an obstacle during the travel, the robot cleaner determines whether the obstacle is pushed by the robot cleaner and slides, and an obstacle bypass operation in which upon determination that the obstacle is the pushed-and-sliding obstacle, the robot cleaner stops the travel and then bypasses the pushed-and-sliding obstacle.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A method for controlling a robot, the method comprising: driving a motor of the robot to cause the robot to travel along a movement path; monitoring a load of the motor while the robot travels along the movement path; controlling the motor to selectively change the movement path when the load of the motor changes based on the robot moving an object while the robot is traveling along the movement path, monitoring at least one of a distance between a floor and the robot, or an amount of light reflected from the floor while the robot travels; and determining that the change in the load of the motor corresponds to the robot moving the object when the at least one of the distance between the floor and the robot, or the amount of light reflected from the floor indicate that robot is not being rotated or lifted, is not traveling on a carpet, is not being tilted, or is not contacting a wall or other immovable obstacle.",
    "2. The method of claim 1, wherein the motor is controlled to change the movement path when a change in the load of the motor increases in response to the robot moving the object.",
    "3. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the motor to selectively change the movement path includes changing the movement path to bypass the object."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present disclosure relates to a robot cleaner and a method for controlling the same, and more particularly, to a robot cleaner that may operate by recognizing a pushed-and-sliding obstacle, and a method for controlling the same.\n\nIn general, a robot cleaner includes a body having a suction apparatus and a dust collection vessel, and a cleaning nozzle that is connected to the body and performs cleaning in a state of being close to a face to be cleaned. As a method for recognizing an obstacle by the robot cleaner, a method for recognizing a long distance obstacle using an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, a laser distance sensor (LDS), and the like, or a method for recognizing a front object using a camera is used. Sensors have different characteristics.\n\nKorean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2006-0062607 discloses a technology for recognizing the obstacle using the sensor. In order for the robot cleaner to thoroughly clean all rooms, the cleaning must be performed while moving. When encountering a pushed-and-sliding and lower height obstacle (such as laundry rack, a foot mat, a foot towel, and the like), the robot cleaner is not able to distinguish the pushed-and-sliding and lower height obstacle from a pushed-but-fixed threshold of the room. Thus, the robot cleaner tends to pass such pushed-and-sliding obstacle. However, the obstacles such as the laundry rack and the mat are not fixed to a floor, so that the obstacles such as the laundry rack and the mat are pushed when being pushed by the cleaner.",
  "cpc": [
    "G05D 1/0238",
    "A47L 11/4011",
    "A47L 11/4061",
    "A47L 2201/04",
    "A47L 9/009",
    "A47L 9/2826",
    "A47L 9/2831",
    "A47L 9/2852",
    "A47L 9/2889",
    "B25J 11/0085",
    "B25J 19/021",
    "B25J 9/1666",
    "B25J 9/1676",
    "G05D 1/0221",
    "G05D 1/0227",
    "G05D 1/0242",
    "G05D 1/0253",
    "G05D 1/0274",
    "G05D 2201/0203"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "A47L 11/40",
    "G05D 1/02"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "LG Electronics Inc"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Wonkeun YANG",
    "Junghwan Kim",
    "Minho Lee",
    "Jeongwoo JU",
    "Dongki Noh"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2020-07-10",
  "publication_date": "2023-04-11",
  "grant_date": "2023-04-11",
  "priority_date": "2019-07-25",
  "application_number": "US-202016926260-A",
  "family_id": "74187801",
  "cited_by_count": 1,
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}