Robotic appliance with on-board joystick sensor and associated methods of operation

A robotic appliance, including:

• a housing;
• a joystick sensor mounted to the housing and configured to provide one or more sensed signals that vary as the robotic appliance traverses a surface area and comes in contact with an associated obstacle, wherein the joystick sensor includes a shaft and a biasing member for urging the shaft to a center position;
• a propelling mechanism mounted to the housing and in communication with the controller, wherein the propelling mechanism moves the robotic appliance over the surface area;
• a bumper that defines at least a portion of a periphery of the robotic appliance in an x-y plane corresponding to the surface on which the robotic appliance is positioned, wherein the bumper is in operative communication with the joystick sensor so that movement of the bumper in relation to the housing varies the one or more sensed signals provided by the joystick sensor;
• and
• a controller mounted to the housing and adapted to receive the one or more sensed signals, wherein the controller determines the direction of the obstacle in relation to the x-y plane, based at least in part on the one or more sensed signals and controls an operation of the propelling mechanism to move away from the associated obstacle in response to the contact with the associated obstacle and to continue traversing the surface so as to avoid the associated obstacle based at least in part on the direction of the associated obstacle.

A robotic appliance for performance of a desired task while traversing a surface area, the robotic appliance including:

• a housing;
• a return-to-center joystick sensor mounted to the housing and configured to provide one or more sensed signals that vary as the robotic appliance traverses a surface area and comes in contact with an associated obstacle;
• a propulsion mechanism mounted to the housing;
• a cleaning element mounted to the housing;
• first control means for powering up the robotic appliance;
• second control means for selecting an operating mode for the robotic appliance;
• third control means for starting operation of the robotic appliance;
• processing means mounted to the housing and adapted to receive the one or more sensed signals in communication with the first, second, and third control means, propulsion mechanism, and cleaning element for:
• i) controlling the propulsion mechanism to move the robotic appliance over the surface area based at least in part on the operating mode selected, ii) controlling the cleaning element to perform the desired task based at least in part on the operating mode selected, iii) determining when the robotic appliance comes in contact with the obstacle and at least a direction of the obstacle in relation to the robotic appliance and an x-y plane corresponding to the surface area, and iv) controlling the robotic appliance in response to the contact with the obstacle;
• and
• a bumper that defines a periphery for at least a front section and a rear section of the robotic appliance in the x-y plane, wherein the bumper is in operative communication with the joystick sensor so that movement of the bumper in relation to the housing varies the one or more sensed signals provided by the joystick sensor.

A robotic appliance for performance of a desired task traversing a surface area, the robotic appliance including:

• a housing;
• a resiliently biased return-to-center joystick sensor mounted to the housing and configured to provide one or more sensed signals that vary as the robotic appliance traverses a surface area and comes in contact with an obstacle;
• traction means mounted to the housing;
• functional means mounted to the housing;
• a bumper that defines a periphery of the robotic appliance in an x-y plane corresponding to the surface area, wherein the bumper is in operative communication with the joystick sensor so that movement of the bumper in relation to the housing varies the one or more sensed signals provided by the joystick sensor;
• first control means for powering up the robotic appliance;
• second control means for selecting an operating mode for the robotic appliance;
• third control means for starting operation of the robotic appliance;
• and
• processing means mounted to the housing and adapted to receive the one or more sensed signals in communication with the traction means, functional means, and first, second, and third control means for:
• i) controlling the traction means to propel the robotic appliance over the surface area based at least in part on the operating mode selected, ii) controlling the functional means to perform the desired task based at least in part on the operating mode selected, iii) determining when the robotic appliance comes in contact with the obstacle and at least a direction of the obstacle in relation to the robotic appliance and the x-y plane based at least in part on the one or more sensed signals, and iv) controlling movement of the robotic appliance to move away from the obstacle in response to the contact with the obstacle in response to the contact with the obstacle and to continue traversing the surface area so as to avoid the obstacle based at least in part on the direction of the obstacle.