Autonomous Robot Localization
AssigneeiRobot Corporation
InventorsMike Halloran, Jamie Miliken, Travis Pierce, Eric Charles Peters
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A location estimation system for use with an autonomous lawn mowing robot, comprises a plurality of synthetic surfaces positioned with respect to a mowable space in an environment, a radiation source coupled to the lawn mowing robot, a detector coupled to the lawn mowing robot and configured to detect radiation reflected by objects in the environment, and a controller configured to controllably direct radiation from the radiation source to scan the environment, and to vary at least one of an output power of the directed radiation and a scan rate of the directed radiation, as a function of detected radiation reflected from one or more of the synthetic surfaces.
Claims29
A location estimation system for use with an autonomous lawn mowing robot, the system comprising:
- a plurality of synthetic surfaces positioned with respect to a mowable space in an environment;
- a radiation source coupled to the lawn mowing robot;
- a detector coupled to the lawn mowing robot and configured to detect radiation reflected by objects in the environment;
- and
- a controller configured to controllably direct radiation from the radiation source to scan the environment, and to vary at least one of an output power of the directed radiation and a scan rate of the directed radiation, as a function of detected radiation reflected from one or more of the synthetic surfaces.
A method of estimating a location of a self-propelled lawn mowing robot in an environment, the method comprising:
- positioning a plurality of synthetic surfaces at locations with respect to a mowable space in an environment;
- and
- placing a lawn mowing robot in the environment, the robot comprising:
- a radiation source coupled to the lawn mowing robot;
- a detector coupled to the lawn mowing robot and configured to detect radiation reflected by objects in the environment;
- and
- a controller configured to controllably direct radiation from the radiation source to scan the environment, and to vary at least one of an output power of the directed radiation and a scan rate of the directed radiation, as a function of detected radiation reflected from one or more of the synthetic surfaces.
An autonomous robot comprising:
- a body configured to move over a surface;
- two driven wheels carried by the body and defining a transverse axis, with each wheel carried on a respective side of the body;
- a radiation source coupled to the autonomous robot;
- a detector coupled to the autonomous mowing robot and configured to detect radiation reflected by objects in the environment;
- and
- a controller configured to controllably direct radiation from the radiation source to scan the environment, and to vary at least one of an output power of the directed radiation and a scan rate of the directed radiation, as a function of detected radiation reflected from one or more of synthetic surfaces placed in the environment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.