This invention relates to a cleaning apparatus and, more particularly, to methods for the autonomous control of such an apparatus.
There is a great deal of current interest in autonomous cleaning devices or robots. With rising janitorial labor costs, increased computer processing power and dropping prices for sensors and electronic hardware, autonomous devices that once would have been too expensive or even impossible are now being created.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,566 shows such a self-running cleaning apparatus and is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Most of these cleaning robots fall into two categories. Those in the first category require that an operator manually teach the robot the area that it is to clean. This is usually accomplished by the operator guiding the robot through at least a portion of the cleaning path before the robot is "turned loose."
The second category of robots start immediately cleaning on their own by using a very localized algorithm. The robot simply starts cleaning everything it can and keeps increasing the area cleaned until boundaries are reached.
The robot of the above-cited patent may be operated in either of these modes.
Both of these categories require too much operator attention. The first actually requires the operator to teach the robot the area to be cleaned and the second will often require an operator to monitor the robot to make sure it doesn't leave the desired area on its own. In addition, the second category may produce an inefficient cleaning pattern because of the localized focus of the algorithm.