Irobot Corporation

Andreas Kolling

Philip Fong

Mario E Munich

Manjunath Narayana

Christopher Mehegan

Vazgen Karapetyan

Isaac Vandermeulen

Described herein are systems and methods for operating a mobile robot in an environment according to a coverage path generated using an environment map. The path includes a set of linear path segments connected by a number of turns therebetween, and the path minimizes or reduces the number of turns that the robot makes as it traverses the environment. An exemplary system includes at least one controller that partitions the environment map into regions with respective orientations based on the region's dimensional information and neighboring regions' properties, decomposes the regions into parallel ranks, and generates a coverage path using the ranks. One or more mobile robots can accomplish designated missions such as cleaning in the environment when moving along their respectively identified path.

Turn-minimizing or turn-reducing robot coverage

A method includes constructing a map of an environment based on mapping data produced by an autonomous cleaning robot in the environment during a first cleaning mission. Constructing the map includes providing a label associated with a portion of the mapping data. The method includes causing a remote computing device to present a visual representation of the environment based on the map, and a visual indicator of the label. The method includes causing the autonomous cleaning robot to initiate a behavior associated with the label during a second cleaning mission.

Mapping for autonomous mobile robots

A method of assisting user-configuration of hardware for a mobile autonomous cleaning robot can include detecting a flooring type of a room or other portion of an environment. A size of the portion of the environment can be detected and a total size of the environment can be determined. generating a hardware characteristic recommendation can be generated based at least in part on the flooring type, the size of the portion of the environment, and the total size of the environment.

Mobile cleaning robot hardware recommendations

Described herein are systems, devices, and methods for maintaining a valid semantic map of an environment for a mobile robot. A mobile robot comprises a drive system, a sensor circuit to sense occupancy information, a memory, a controller circuit, and a communication system. The controller circuit can generate a first semantic map corresponding to a first robot mission using first occupancy information and first semantic annotations, transfer the first semantic annotations to a second semantic map corresponding to a subsequent second robot mission. The control circuit can generate the second semantic map that includes second semantic annotations generated based on the transferred first semantic annotations. User feedback on the first or the second semantic map can be received via a communication system. The control circuit can update first semantic map and use it to navigate the mobile robot in a future mission.

Systems and methods for managing a semantic map in a mobile robot

A method of assisting user-configuration of hardware for a mobile autonomous cleaning robot can include detecting a flooring type of a room or other portion of an environment. A size of the portion of the environment can be detected and a total size of the environment can be determined, generating a hardware characteristic recommendation can be generated based at least in part on the flooring type, the size of the portion of the environment, and the total size of the environment.

An autonomous mobile robot includes a drive system to support the robot above a surface, a sensor system configured to generate a signal indicative of a location of the robot on the surface, and a controller operably connected to the drive system and the sensor system. The drive system is operable to navigate the robot about the surface. The controller is configured to execute instructions to perform operations including establishing a behavior control zone on the surface, controlling the drive system, in response to establishing the behavior control zone on the surface, to maneuver the robot to a location of the behavior control zone on the surface, and maneuvering, using the drive system, the robot about the surface and initiating a behavior in response to determining, based on the signal indicative of the location of the robot, that the robot is proximate the behavior control zone.

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Pasadena, CA, United States of America

Andreas Kolling