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EP-3486039-B1 - ROBOT AND ROBOT CONTROL METHOD

EP3486039B1EP 3486039 B1EP3486039 B1EP 3486039B1EP-3486039-B1

Inventors

  • XIE, Haojian
  • XIA, Yongfeng

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20170504

Claims (9)

  1. A robot (10), comprising a control unit (230); wherein the control unit (230) is configured to: detect a virtual wall signal via a detection component at a predetermined time interval; and identify a virtual wall according to a signal threshold and the virtual wall signal during a traveling process of the robot (10), wherein the closer the robot is to the virtual wall, the higher the virtual wall signal is; being characterized in that , the control unit (230) is further configured to, when the virtual wall signal reaches a first signal threshold, adjust the signal threshold from the first signal threshold to a second signal threshold that is less than the first signal threshold, control the robot (10) to return back a predetermined distance, control the robot to travel along an outer side of the virtual wall according to the second signal threshold and the virtual wall signal, such that a driving wheel of the robot is located at the outer side of the virtual wall during the traveling process of the robot along an outer side of the virtual wall, by: controlling the robot (10) to travel away from the virtual wall when it is detected that the virtual wall signal reaches the second signal threshold; and controlling the robot (10) to travel towards the virtual wall when it is detected that the virtual wall signal is less than the second signal threshold; wherein the outer side of the virtual wall is a side of the virtual wall within an active region of the robot (10).
  2. The robot (10) according to claim 1, wherein the control unit (230) is further configured to: detect whether the virtual wall signal reaches the first signal threshold; and determine that the virtual wall is identified when detecting that the virtual wall signal reaches the first signal threshold.
  3. The robot (10) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit (230) is further configured to: execute again an act of identifying the virtual wall according to the signal threshold and the virtual wall signal when the robot (10) completes traveling along the outer side of the virtual wall.
  4. The robot (10) according to claim 3, wherein the control unit (230) is further configured to: detect whether the virtual wall signal is less than the second signal threshold; and determine that the robot (10) completes traveling along the outer side of the virtual wall when a duration in which the virtual wall signal is continuously detected as being less than the second signal threshold reaches a predetermined duration.
  5. The robot (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, the control unit (230) is further configured to: determine a maximum value of the virtual wall signal during the traveling process of the robot (10); and adjust the first signal threshold according to the maximum value of the virtual wall signal.
  6. A method for controlling a robot (10), comprising: detecting (301; 401) a virtual wall signal via a detection component at a predetermined time interval; and identifying (302) a virtual wall according to a signal threshold and the virtual wall signal during a traveling process of the robot (10), wherein the closer the robot is to the virtual wall, the higher the virtual wall signal is; being characterized in that , the method further comprises: adjusting (303) the signal threshold from a first signal threshold to a second signal threshold that is less than the first signal threshold when the virtual wall signal reaches the first signal threshold, controlling the robot (10) to return back a predetermined distance, controlling the robot to travel along an outer side of the virtual wall according to the second signal threshold and the virtual wall signal, such that a driving wheel of the robot is located at the outer side of the virtual wall during the traveling process of the robot along an outer side of the virtual wall, by: controlling (602) the robot (10) to travel away from the virtual wall when it is detected that the virtual wall signal reaches the second signal threshold ; and controlling (603) the robot (10) to travel towards the virtual wall when it is detected that the virtual wall signal is less than the second signal threshold; wherein the outer side of the virtual wall is a side of the virtual wall within an active region of the robot (10).
  7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, identifying (302) the virtual wall signal according to the signal threshold and the virtual wall signal comprises: detecting (402) whether the virtual wall signal reaches the first signal threshold; and determining (403) that the virtual wall is identified when detecting that the virtual wall signal reaches the first signal threshold.
  8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein, the method further comprises: executing (803) again an act of identifying the virtual wall according to the signal threshold and the virtual wall signal when the robot (10) completes traveling along the outer side of the virtual wall; detecting (801) whether the virtual wall signal is less than the second signal threshold; and determining (802) that the robot (10) completes traveling along the outer side of the virtual wall when a duration in which the virtual wall signal is continuously detected as being less than the second signal threshold reaches a predetermined duration.
  9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, including instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a control unit (230), a method for controlling a robot (10) according to any one of claims 6 to 8 is executed.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the field of smart home appliances, and more particularly, to a robot and a method for controlling a robot. BACKGROUND The cleaning robot is a robot configured to perform a cleaning operation while automatically traveling in a certain region without user operations. There may be some parts that a user does not desire the cleaning robot to enter, included in a region where the cleaning robot is located, such as a bathroom with water on the ground. The cleaning robot may be suffered from the water damage and is broken down after entry. As another example, a region gathering with children's toys, after the cleaning robot enters the region, the cleaning robot may bring a fragmentation of the toy accidentally in a dust box. Since there are generally no obstacles arranged at boundaries around such regions to block the cleaning robot, such as doors and walls, the user can set a virtual wall for these regions in order to prevent the cleaning robot from entering these regions. For example, a virtual wall may be defined at an entrance to the bathroom. The virtual wall can be defined by a virtual wall magnetic strip disposed on the ground. During a traveling process of the cleaning robot, a surrounding magnetic field strength may be detected by a detection component. When the detected magnetic field strength is greater than a preset magnetic threshold, it is determined that the cleaning robot arrives at the virtual wall. The cleaning robot may turn around and may work in an edge-along cleaning mode. When the magnetic threshold is set to be relatively large, the cleaning robot needs to travel very close to the virtual wall to enter the edge-along cleaning mode. Since the detection component is usually placed at the center of the cleaning robot, when the cleaning robot enters the edge-along cleaning mode, a driving wheel is actually already across the virtual wall magnetic strip and enters into the region that the user does not desire the cleaning robot to enter. As a result, the cleaning robot is still suffered from the water damage and brings the fragmentation of the toy into the dust box. When the magnetic threshold is set to be relatively small, although it may prevent the driving wheel from entering the regions, the cleaning robot may enter into the edge-along cleaning mode at a position far from the virtual wall, or the cleaning robot may consider a weak magnetic item, such as stainless steel furniture, as the virtual wall by mistake and thus enter into the edge-along cleaning mode. As a result, user interventions are often required. It is difficult to completely automate the cleaning in a complex environment. In actual implementations, in order to prevent the driving wheel of the cleaning robot from entering the region that the user does not desire the cleaning robot to enter, two or more detection components may be disposed at peripheries of the cleaning robot. The plurality of detection components are configured to jointly identify the virtual wall. However, it is unreasonable to configure the cleaning robot with the plurality of detection components, due to an increase of complexity of circuities and an increase of manufacturing cost of the cleaning robot. JP5973610B1 relates to a controller for unmanned work vehicle, and GB2242174A relates a method of moving and guiding a carrier. US 2013/0025248 A1 relates to a robotic mower launch point system, including a vehicle control unit. The vehicle control unit commands the robotic mower to follow a boundary wire to each launch point in the sequence where the robotic mower mows for that launch point's duration before returning to the charging station. US 2005/0113990 A1 relates to a robotic system for systematically moving about an area to be covered. The system includes at least one boundary marker located along the outer edge of the area to be covered, a robot with a navigation system navigates the robot in generally straight, parallel lines from an initial location and turns the robot when the robot encounters one of the boundary markers, thereby to systematically move about the area to be covered. The sensor unit senses proximity to one of the at least one boundary marker. US 2015/373906 A1 relates to a robotic work tool for use with at least one guiding wire adapted to conduct electric current to generate a magnetic field around the guiding wire. The robotic work tool has a sensing system adapted to detect a strength of the magnetic field, a steering system, a controller configured to control the steering system in response to output from the sensing system by means of a feedback control loop so as to cause movement of the robotic work tool along the guiding wire. The controller is configured to determine a measure indicative of a distance between the robotic work tool and the guiding wire, and adjust at least one parameter of the feedback control loop in response to the determined distance measure. SUMMARY The