Cleaning robot

Abstract

Provided is a cleaning robot including a main body; a driving unit configured to move the main body; a communication unit configured to establish wireless communication with a user terminal to which a manipulation command is input; and a controller configured to transmit a position detecting signal to the user terminal, and detect a position of the user terminal based on a time difference between the position detecting signal and a response signal transmitted from the user terminal.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A cleaning robot comprising:
 a floor-obstacle sensing module configured to emit a floor-sensing radio wave toward a floor and detect a floor-reflected radio wave reflected from a floor obstacle or the floor; and   a controller configured to detect quality of a material of at least one of the floor obstacle or the floor, based on a waveform of the floor-reflected radio wave.   
     
     
         2 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
 detect a change in waveform of the floor-reflected radio wave, including at least one of a change in the amplitude, a change in phase or a change in frequency of the floor-reflected radio wave.   
     
     
         3 . The cleaning robot of  claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
 detect quality of a material of at least one of the floor obstacle or the floor, based on the change in waveform of the floor-reflected radio wave.   
     
     
         4 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to detect quality of a material of at least one of the floor obstacle or the floor, based on a difference between a waveform of the floor-reflected radio wave detected when the floor obstacle is present and a waveform of the floor-reflected radio wave detected when the floor obstacle is absent. 
     
     
         5 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a cleaning unit configured to clean a space to be cleaned;   wherein the controller is further configured to control the cleaning unit based on the detected quality of a material of at least one of the floor obstacle or the floor.   
     
     
         6 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to identify whether the floor obstacle is present, based on a waveform of the floor-reflected radio wave. 
     
     
         7 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to detect at least one of a distance between the cleaning robot and the floor obstacle, a material of the floor obstacle, a shape of the floor obstacle or a position of the floor obstacle, based on a waveform of the floor-reflected radio wave. 
     
     
         8 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to detect the amount of the energy of the floor-reflected radio wave. 
     
     
         9 . The cleaning robot of  claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to detect a distance between the cleaning robot and the floor obstacle, based on the detected amount of the energy of the floor-reflected radio wave. 
     
     
         10 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
 identify a reflected-signal sensing time during which the change in waveform of the floor-reflected radio wave occurs after the floor-sensing radio wave is emitted; and   detect a distance between the cleaning robot and the floor obstacle, based on the reflected-signal sensing time.   
     
     
         11 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , wherein the floor-obstacle comprises at least one of furniture, a door sill, or wire. 
     
     
         12 . The cleaning robot of  claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to detect the position of the floor obstacle using triangulation. 
     
     
         13 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a main body; and   a driving unit configured to move the main body, and   wherein the controller is further configured to control the driving unit to avoid the floor obstacle.   
     
     
         14 . The cleaning robot of  claim 1 , wherein the floor-obstacle sensing module is disposed to be inclined toward the floor. 
     
     
         15 . A cleaning robot comprising:
 a floor-obstacle sensing module configured to transmit a floor-sensing radio wave toward a floor, and detect a floor-reflected radio wave reflected from a floor obstacle or the floor;   a front-obstacle sensing module configured to transmit a front-sensing radio wave toward a front of the main body and detect a front-reflected radio wave reflected from a front obstacle; and   a controller configured to detect the floor obstacle based on the floor-reflected radio wave and detect the front obstacle based on the front-reflected radio wave.   
     
     
         16 . The cleaning robot of  claim 15 , wherein the front-obstacle sensing module is further configured to transmit the front-sensing radio wave having a predetermined vertical emission angle toward the front of the main body; and
 the floor-obstacle sensing module is disposed to be inclined toward the floor and is configured to transmit the floor-sensing radio wave toward the floor.   
     
     
         17 . The cleaning robot of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a main body; and   a driving unit configured to move the main body, and   wherein the controller is further configured to control the driving unit to perform avoidance driving only when the floor obstacle is detected.