Side brush with elongated soft bristles for robotic cleaners

Abstract

A robotic cleaner executing operations such as capturing data indicative of locations of objects in a workspace through which the robot moves; generating or updating a map of at least a part of the workspace based on at least the data; and navigating based on the map or an updated map of the workspace. The robotic cleaner may include a side brush with a main body with at least one attachment point and at least one bundle of bristles attached to the at least one attachment point of the main body.

1 . A method for an operation of a side brush of a cleaning robot, wherein the cleaning robot comprises at least a sensor disposed on the cleaning robot and a side brush comprising soft bristles, wherein the side brush is electrically coupled to and powered by a motor and is controlled by one or more processors of the cleaning robot, wherein the operation comprises:
 capturing, with the at least one sensor disposed on the cleaning robot, information pertaining to an environment;   generating, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, a map of at least a part of the environment;   actuating, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, the cleaning robot to navigate within the environment based on the map of the environment;   adjusting, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, an operation of the side brush based on the information pertaining to the environment;   displaying, with an application of a communication device paired with the cleaning robot, the map of the environment, a status of the cleaning robot, a battery level of the cleaning robot, and a progress of a task executed by the cleaning robot; and   wherein:
 the application of the communication device is configured to receive at least one user input designating any of: a cleaning schedule for an area of the environment, a label for the area of the environment, and a cleaning setting for the area of the environment. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the side brush oscillates in a first direction and a second direction. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the side brush oscillates at a predetermined angle. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the predetermined angle is less than 60 degrees. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the side brush of the cleaning robot comprises:
 a main body with at least one attachment point; and   at least one bundle of the side brush bristles attached to the at least one attachment point of the main body, wherein the at least one attachment point of the main body is provided at an end of at least one protrusion of the main body.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the side brush bristles are elongated soft bristles. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein elongated soft bristles prevent the side brush from becoming entangled as the cleaning robot moves within the environment. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the application of the communication device is further configured to receive at least one user input to modify, delete, or add a boundary within the map of the environment.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the cleaning setting comprises at least a cleaning intensity, wherein the cleaning intensity comprises a suction power level.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the application of the communication device is further configured to receive the at least one user input, wherein the at least one user input further designates a specific location within the map of the environment to which the cleaning robot is to drive and to perform work.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the application of the communication device is further configured to receive the at least one user input further designating an area within the environment where the cleaning robot is not to enter.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, a setting of the side brush of the cleaning robot based on the information pertaining to the environment.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the setting of the side brush of the cleaning robot is the speed of the side brush. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein each of the at least one bundle of the side brush bristles is angled with respect to a driving surface of the cleaning robot. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the angle with respect to the driving surface of the cleaning robot is between 10 to 30 degrees. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, a suggested cleaning schedule based on previous runs;   proposing, with the application of the communication device, the suggested cleaning schedule for operating the cleaning robot comprising at least one day and time to a user;   receiving, with the application of the communication device, the at least one user input indicating an approval by the user; and   actuating, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, the cleaning robot to clean according to the suggested and approved cleaning schedule.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the suggested schedule is devised using a machine learning algorithm. 
     
     
         18 . A robotic device comprising:
 a cleaning robot, comprising:
 a chassis; 
 a set of wheels; 
 at least one sensor; 
 one or more processors; and 
 a side brush comprising bristles electrically coupled to and powered by a motor and is controlled by one or more processors of the cleaning robot; and 
 a tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable media storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors of the cleaning robot effectuate operations comprising:
 capturing, with the at least one sensor disposed on the cleaning robot, information pertaining to an environment; 
 generating, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, a map of at least a part of the environment;
 actuating, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, the cleaning robot to navigate within the environment based on the map of the environment; 
 adjusting, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, an operation of the side brush based on the information pertaining to the environment; 
 displaying, with an application of a communication device paired with the cleaning robot, the map of the environment, a status of the cleaning robot, a battery level of the cleaning robot, and a progress of a task being executed or previously executed by the cleaning robot; and 
 wherein: 
  the application of the communication device is configured to receive at least one user input designating any of: a cleaning schedule for an area of the environment, a label for the area of the environment, and a cleaning setting for the area of the environment. 
 
 
   
     
     
         19 . The robotic device of  claim 18 , wherein the side brush oscillates in a first direction and a second direction. 
     
     
         20 . The robotic device of  claim 19 , wherein the side brush oscillates at a predetermined angle. 
     
     
         21 . The robotic device of  claim 20 , wherein the predetermined angle is less than 60 degrees. 
     
     
         22 . The robotic device of  claim 18 , wherein the side brush of the cleaning robot comprises:
 a main body with at least one attachment point; and   at least one bundle of the side brush bristles attached to the at least one attachment point of the main body, wherein the at least one attachment point of the main body is provided at an end of at least one protrusion of the main body wherein the side brush bristles are elongated soft bristles.   
     
     
         23 . The robotic device of  claim 22 , further comprising:
 decreasing or increasing, with the one or more processors of the cleaning robot, speed of the side brush based on the information pertaining to the environment.   
     
     
         24 . The robotic device of  claim 22 , wherein each of the at least one bundle of the side brush bristles is angled with respect to a driving surface of the cleaning robot.