# US 2014/0207281 A1 · Environmental Management Systems Including Mobile Robots and Methods Using Same > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0207281 A1 - Document ID: US20140207281A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 14/158,557 - Filed: 2014-01-17 - Published: 2014-07-24 - Earliest claimed: 2013-01-18 - Assignees: iRobot Corporation - Applicants: iRobot Corporation - Inventors: Colin Angle; David Snelling; Melissa O'Dea; Timothy S. Farlow; Samuel Duffley; Jeffrey W. Mammen; Michael J. Halloran - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140207281A1 ## CPC - G05D 1/0022: {characterised by the communication link (data switching networks in general H04L12/00)} - B25J 13/006: {by means of a wireless system for controlling one or several manipulators} - H04L 12/282: {based on user interaction within the home (receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204)} - H04L 2012/2841: {Wireless} - H04L 2012/285: {Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators} - Y10S 901/01: Mobile robot - G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES - B25J: MANIPULATORS; CHAMBERS PROVIDED WITH MANIPULATION DEVICES ({manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery A61B34/70; manipulators used in cleaning hollow articles B08B9/04}; manipulators associated with rolling mills B21B39/20; manipulators associated with forging machines B21J13/10; {manipulators associated with picking-up and placing mechanisms B23P19/007}; means for holding wheels or parts thereof B60B30/00; {vehicles with ground-engaging propulsion means, e.g. walking members B62D57/02, B62D57/032; devices for picking-up and depositing articles or materials between conveyors B65G47/90, B65G47/91; manipulators with gripping or holding means for transferring packages B65H67/065}; cranes B66C; {manipulators used in the protection or supervision of pipe-line installations F17D5/00; walking equipment adapted for nuclear steam-generators F22B37/006}; manipulators specially adapted for, or associated with, nuclear reactors G21C; {apparatus used for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor H10P72/50}) - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS ## Abstract A mobile robot includes a microprocessor connected to a memory and a wireless network circuit, for executing routines stored in the memory and commands generated by the routines and received via the wireless network circuit. The microprocessor drives the mobile robot to a multiplicity of accessible two dimensional locations within a household, and commands an end effector, including at least one motorized actuator, to perform mechanical work in the household. A plurality of routines include a first routine which monitors a wireless local network and detects a presence of a network entity on the wireless local network, a second routine which receives a signal from a sensor detecting an action state of one of the network entities, the action state changeable between waiting and active, and a third routine which commands the end effector to change state of performing mechanical work based on the presence and on the action state. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A mobile robot, comprising: a microprocessor connected to a memory and a wireless network circuit, for executing routines stored in the memory and commands generated by the routines and received via the wireless network circuit; driven wheels commandable by the microprocessor to reach a multiplicity of accessible two dimensional locations within a household; and an end effector, including at least one motorized actuator, commandable by the microprocessor to perform mechanical work in the household, the microprocessor executing a plurality of routines including: a first routine which monitors a wireless local network by communicating with the wireless network circuit, and detects a presence state of one or more network entities on the wireless local network, a second routine which receives a signal from a sensor, the sensor detecting an action state of one of the network entities, the action state changeable between waiting and active, and a third routine which commands the end effector to change state of performing mechanical work based on the presence state and on the action state detected by the first and second routines. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The mobile robot of claim 1, wherein: the first routine detects the presence state of a mobile device on the wireless local network, and the second routine receives a signal from a call state sensor in the mobile device (sent by a monitoring app), the sensor detecting the call state of the mobile device as the action state, the call state changeable between call readiness and call received. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The mobile robot of claim 2, wherein the end effector is the cleaning head of the mobile robot, and the third routine commands the cleaning head of the robot to change state of cleaning based on the presence of the mobile device on the wireless local network and on the call state of the mobile device as the action state. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The mobile robot of claim 1, wherein the first routine detects the presence state of a mobile device on the wireless local network; the second routine receives a signal from a cleaning readiness sensor in the mobile robot (sent by a monitoring behavior), the sensor detecting the cleaning readiness (e.g., charge and stasis state) of the mobile robot as the action state, the cleaning readiness state changeable between cleaning readiness and cleaning active. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The mobile robot of claim 4, wherein the third routine commands the cleaning head of the robot to change state of cleaning based on the presence of the mobile device on the wireless local network and on the cleaning readiness state of the mobile robot as the action state. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The mobile robot of claim 5, wherein the end effector is the cleaning head of the mobile robot, wherein the cleaning readiness is a stasis state, and the motorized actuator is stationary in a stasis state. ### Claim 7 (depends on 4) The mobile robot of claim 4, wherein the mobile robot executes a monitoring behavior for monitoring the cleaning readiness. ### Claim 8 (depends on 4) The mobile robot of claim 4, wherein the cleaning readiness is a power charge of the mobile robot. ### Claim 9 A mobile robot, comprising: a microprocessor connected to a memory and a wireless network circuit, for executing routines stored in the memory and commands generated by the routines and received via the wireless network circuit; driven wheels commandable by the microprocessor to reach a multiplicity of accessible two dimensional locations within a household; an environmental sensor readable by the microprocessor, the microprocessor executing a plurality of routines including: a first routine which commands the driven wheels to move the robot about the household, a second routine which takes [environmental] sensor readings at a plurality of the accessible two dimensional locations within the household, a third routine which, based on the sensor readings throughout the household, sends data to a network entity having a dedicated environmental sensor resulting in the activation of a motorized actuator on the network entity to perform mechanical work in the household, despite the dedicated environmental sensor reading alone determining otherwise. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The mobile robot of claim 9, wherein the sensor readings taken at the plurality of accessible two dimensional locations within the household are environmental sensor readings and the environmental sensor is an air quality sensor, and wherein the network entity is an air purifier. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The mobile robot of claim 9, wherein the sensor readings taken at the plurality of accessible two dimensional locations within the household are environmental sensor readings and the environmental sensor is a humidity sensor, and wherein the network entity is a humidifier. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The mobile robot of claim 9, wherein the sensor readings taken at the plurality of accessible two dimensional locations within the household are environmental sensor readings and the environmental sensor is a temperature sensor, and wherein the network entity is a thermostat. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The mobile robot of claim 9, wherein the sensor readings taken at the plurality of two dimensional locations within the household populate a two dimensional map of sensor readings within the household, the two dimensional map displayed on a human machine interface device in communication with the mobile robot over the network. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The mobile robot of claim 9, wherein the sensor readings taken at the plurality of two dimensional locations within the household populate a three dimensional map of sensor readings within the household, the two dimensional map displayed on a human machine interface device in communication with the mobile robot over the network. ### Claim 15 A mobile robot, comprising: a microprocessor connected to a memory and a wireless network circuit, for executing routines stored in the memory and commands generated by the routines and received via the wireless network circuit; driven wheels commandable by the microprocessor to reach a multiplicity of accessible two dimensional locations within a household; a localizing circuit, with at least one localizing sensor that observes sensor readings from objects within the household, for determining a current pose of the mobile robot with reference to the observed objects, the microprocessor executing a plurality of routines including: a navigation routine which commands the driven wheels to move the robot about the household, a surface mapping routine that accumulates observations from the localizing circuit to record a two dimensional array representing possible locations of the mobile robot; a mission time estimate routine that accumulates timed readings from the localizing circuit and determines at least one estimated completion time span for the mobile robot to substantially cover a surface area corresponding to a contiguous set of possible locations within the two dimensional array, and a mission pre-planning routine that compares a target completion time to the at least one estimate completion time span, and commands the driven wheels to begin covering a the surface area sufficiently in advance of the target completion time for the at least one estimated completion time to pass, so that the surface area is substantially covered before the target completion time. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The mobile robot of claim 15, wherein the mission pre-planning routine further comprises identifying a target completion time and launching the robot autonomously based on an occupancy schedule of the household. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The mobile robot of claim 16, wherein the occupancy schedule is directly input to the mobile robot at user interface display. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The mobile robot of claim 16, wherein the occupancy schedule is wirelessly transmitted to the mobile robot from a remote human machine interface in wireless communication with the robot. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The mobile robot of claim 16, wherein the occupancy schedule is wirelessly transmitted to the mobile robot through native calendar integration. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The mobile robot of claim 15, wherein the mobile robot monitors and learns an occupancy schedule of the household over a period or periods of time sets the target completion time based on the learned occupancy schedule. ### Claim 21 (depends on 15) The mobile robot of claim 15, wherein the mobile robot learns an occupancy schedule of the household over a period of time, identifies one or more occupancy patterns and sets the target completion time based on the one or more learned occupancy patterns. ### Claim 22 A mobile robot, comprising: a microprocessor connected to a memory and a wireless network circuit, for executing routines stored in the memory and commands generated by the routines and received via the wireless network circuit; driven wheels commandable by the microprocessor to reach a multiplicity of accessible two dimensional locations within a household; an environmental sensor readable by the microprocessor to take current readings of an environmental quality; a localizing circuit, with at least one localizing sensor that observes sensor readings from objects within the household, for determining a current pose of the mobile robot with reference to the observed objects, the microprocessor executing a plurality of routines including: a navigation routine which commands the driven wheels to move the robot about the household, a surface mapping routine that accumulates observations from the localizing circuit to record a two dimensional array representing possible locations of the mobile robot; an environmental mapping routine that takes and accumulates readings from the environmental sensor at a plurality of the accessible two dimensional locations within the household and causes the memory to store a three dimensional array based on the readings and on the two dimensional array representing possible locations of the mobile robot; and a location-responsive environmental control routine which correlates the three dimensional array to locations of a plurality of home environmental control nodes, each home environmental control node having a dedicated environmental sensor and a control channel to actuate a motorized actuator to perform mechanical work within the household, and based on a proximity of at least one control node to an environmental mapping location represented in the three dimensional array, sends data to cause the at least one environmental control node to perform mechanical work in the household.