Control method for a robot lawnmower, in particular usable as part of an initialization procedure

A robot lawnmower configured to execute land maintenance operations within a working area delimited by a perimeter, wherein said robot lawnmower comprises:

• a movement unit acting on wheels, rollers, or tracks of said robot lawnmower, said movement unit being configured to selectively determine a variation of position of said robot lawnmower or a variation of orientation of said robot lawnmower, said variation of orientation being obtained by a rotation of said robot lawnmower around a predefined axis orthogonal to the ground;
• a primary sensor configured to detect the position of said robot lawnmower;
• and
• a controller programmed to, starting from an initial position of said robot lawnmower in said working area and starting from an initial orientation of said robot lawnmower:
• measure via the primary sensor a separation distance between a predefined point of said robot lawnmower and said perimeter of said working area, said predefined point of said robot lawnmower being placed at a non-zero distance with respect to said predefined axis, and preceding said predefined axis in the advancement direction of said robot lawnmower,
• compare said separation distance to a distance threshold, and
• actuate said movement unit of said robot lawnmower to determine:
• if said separation distance is less than said threshold, rotate said robot lawnmower around said predefined axis and in a predefined rotation direction to vary the orientation of said robot lawnmower from a first orientation to a second orientation to establish a potential condition of increased distance of said predefined point of said robot lawnmower from said perimeter, or
• if said separation distance is equal to or greater than said threshold, advance said robot lawnmower by a distance corresponding to said threshold to vary the position of said robot within said working area from a first position to a second position.

A method for controlling the position of a robot lawnmower, comprising:

• measuring, when starting from a temporary position or orientation of said robot with respect to a predetermined reference within a predetermined working area, a first distance between a predefined point of said robot and a perimeter of said predetermined working area;
• and
• rotating the robot if said first distance is less than a threshold distance value, placing said predefined point of said robot at a second distance with respect to said perimeter of said predetermined working area, said rotating comprising an actuation of a movement motor unit of the robot acting on wheels, roller, or tracks of said robot and determining a rotation from a first rotation angle of said robot on an azimuthal plane to a second rotation angle of said robot on the azimuthal plane,
• wherein said rotating is centred on a predefined rotation point of said robot placed at a predetermined and non-zero distance with respect to said predefined point of the robot.

A method for controlling the position or orientation of a robot lawnmower, comprising:

• storing a first position or a first orientation datum of said robot electronically in an electronic memory, said robot being positioned at a predetermined point of a predetermined working area, the predetermined point being the point of a predetermined positional reference for said robot;
• analysing a need to impose or reset a datum of a temporary position or a temporary orientation of said robot with respect to said predetermined positional reference;
• and
• accessing said electronic memory and extracting from said electronic memory said first position or first orientation datum, and
• resetting, when keeping the robot at said positional reference, the datum of said temporary position or said temporary orientation of said robot to correspond with said first position or first orientation datum,
• wherein the predetermined positional reference corresponds to a charging station, said charging station having a known position or orientation, and
• wherein the operation of the robot in movement to be positioned at said predetermined positional reference comprises the robot reaching the charging station, and is determined by a coupling between electrical contacts of the charging station with electrical contacts of said robot.