WO2025146198A1 - Cleaning robot control method and apparatus, and medium and electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

A cleaning robot control method, a cleaning robot control apparatus, a computer-readable storage medium, and an electronic device. The method comprises: in response to detecting that a cleaning robot enters a corner area, controlling the cleaning robot to extend a retractable cleaner, wherein the corner area is an area determined on the basis of an included angle formed by intersecting edges of two obstacles; and controlling the cleaning robot to move within the corner area, and using the retractable cleaner to clean the corner area during the movement process.

Description

Control method and device of cleaning robot, medium and electronic equipment

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present disclosure claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202410025247.2 filed on January 5, 2024, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of smart homes, and in particular to a control method for a cleaning robot, a control device for the cleaning robot, a computer-readable storage medium, and an electronic device.

Background Art

In recent years, with the rapid development of computer technology and artificial intelligence science, intelligent robot technology has gradually become a hot spot in the field of modern robot research. Among them, cleaning robots, as the most practical type of intelligent robots, can automatically complete the cleaning work of the ground with a certain degree of artificial intelligence.

Currently, during the cleaning process, cleaning robots are unable to effectively clean angled areas formed by obstacles such as wall corners, resulting in poor cleaning effects of the cleaning robots.

How to accurately and effectively clean the angle area to improve the cleaning efficiency of the cleaning robot is a problem that needs to be solved urgently in the prior art.

Summary of the invention

The purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a control method for a cleaning robot, a control device for a cleaning robot, a computer-readable storage medium, and an electronic device to solve the problem that the prior art cannot effectively clean the angled area. The specific solution is as follows:

According to specific embodiments of the present disclosure, in a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a control method for a cleaning robot, wherein the cleaning robot comprises a retractable cleaner, and a first projection of the retractable cleaner on a horizontal plane when extended is at least partially located outside a second projection of a body of the cleaning robot on the horizontal plane; the method comprises: in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters an angle area, controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner; the angle area is an area determined based on an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges; controlling the cleaning robot to move within the angle area, and cleaning the angle area by the retractable cleaner during the movement.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters an angle area, controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner comprises: in response to detecting that there is an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges in the area to be cleaned, and the distances between the cleaning robot and the two obstacle edges are both smaller than a reference size of the cleaning robot, controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the body of the cleaning robot is circular, and the reference dimension is the diameter of the body; or the body of the cleaning robot is polygonal, and the reference dimension is the length of a side of the body.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the angle formed by the intersection of the two obstacle edges is within a preset angle range.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, controlling the cleaning robot to move within the angle area includes: controlling the cleaning robot to move within the angle area at a first moving speed; the first moving speed is less than a second moving speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle area.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes: in response to determining that the cleaning robot needs to rotate within the angle area, controlling the cleaning robot to rotate at a first rotation speed; the first rotation speed is less than a second rotation speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle area.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes: obtaining a first electrical signal value for controlling the retractable cleaner before issuing a first control instruction; the first control instruction is used to control the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner; monitoring a second electrical signal value for controlling the retractable cleaner during the process of extending the retractable cleaner; in response to determining that the difference between the second electrical signal value and the first electrical signal value reaches a preset threshold, determining that there is an extension abnormality of the retractable cleaner, controlling the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner and extend it again.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes: in response to determining that there are extension anomalies in M consecutive extensions of the retractable cleaner, giving up extending the retractable cleaner.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: in response to satisfying a retraction condition, controlling the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes: in response to determining that no reset signal is received within a first preset time period after issuing a second control instruction, determining that there is a retraction abnormality in the retractable cleaner, controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner and retract it again; the second control instruction is used to control the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner; and the reset signal is used to indicate that the retractable cleaner has been retracted to a specified position.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: controlling the cleaning robot to rotate a preset angle.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the retraction condition includes at least one of the following: the cleaning robot leaves the angle area; the time duration of the extension of the retractable cleaner reaches a second preset time duration.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a control device for a cleaning robot, wherein the cleaning robot comprises a retractable cleaner, wherein a first projection of the retractable cleaner on a horizontal plane when extended is at least partially located outside a second projection of a body of the cleaning robot on the horizontal plane; the device comprises: a cleaner control module, for controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters an angle area; the angle area is an area determined based on an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges; and a cleaner cleaning module, for controlling the cleaning robot to move within the angle area, and cleaning the angle area by the retractable cleaner during the movement.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program implements the above method when executed by a processor.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides an electronic device, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to perform the above method by executing the executable instructions.

The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have the following beneficial effects:

In response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters an angle area, the cleaning robot is controlled to extend a retractable cleaner; the angle area is an area determined based on the angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges; the cleaning robot is controlled to move within the angle area, and the angle area is cleaned by the retractable cleaner during the movement. On the one hand, this exemplary embodiment provides a new control method for a cleaning robot, which can control the cleaning robot to extend a retractable cleaner when the cleaning robot enters the angle area, so as to expand the cleaning range of the cleaning robot by extending the retractable cleaner beyond the projection of the cleaning robot body on the horizontal plane, and effectively clean the angle area, which is a special application scenario; on the other hand, this exemplary embodiment can control the cleaning robot to move in the angle area while extending the retractable cleaner, so that the retractable cleaner cooperates with the moving state of the cleaning robot, and improves the cleaning efficiency of the cleaning robot in the angle area.

It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings herein are incorporated into the specification and constitute a part of the specification, showing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure, and together with the specification, are used to explain the principles of the present disclosure. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and for ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work. In the drawings:

FIG1 schematically shows a schematic structural diagram of a cleaning robot in this exemplary embodiment;

FIG2 schematically shows a flow chart of a control method of a cleaning robot in this exemplary embodiment;

FIG3 schematically shows a schematic diagram of an angle region in this exemplary embodiment;

FIG4 schematically shows another schematic diagram of an angle region in this exemplary embodiment;

FIG5 schematically shows a sub-flow chart of a control method of a cleaning robot in this exemplary embodiment;

FIG6 schematically shows a structural block diagram of a control device of a cleaning robot in this exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 schematically shows an electronic device for implementing the above method in this exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure clearer, the present disclosure will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

The terms used in the embodiments of the present disclosure are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. The singular forms "a", "said" and "the" used in the embodiments of the present disclosure and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates other meanings, and "multiple" generally includes at least two.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" used in this article is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and/or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used to describe ... in the embodiments of the present disclosure, these ... should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish .... For example, without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first ... may also be referred to as the second ..., and similarly, the second ... may also be referred to as the first ....

As used herein, the words "if" and "if" may be interpreted as "at the time of" or "when" or "in response to determining" or "in response to detecting", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrases "if it is determined" or "if (stated condition or event) is detected" may be interpreted as "when it is determined" or "in response to determining" or "when detecting (stated condition or event)" or "in response to detecting (stated condition or event)", depending on the context.

It should also be noted that the term "includes", "comprising" or any other variation thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a commodity or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such commodity or device. In the absence of more restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprising a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the commodity or device including the elements.

Cleaning robots are a type of smart home appliance that can automatically clean the floor in a room with a certain degree of artificial intelligence. They can use brushing and/or vacuuming to absorb debris on the floor into their own garbage collection box, thereby completing the function of cleaning the floor.

However, when a cleaning robot encounters obstacles such as wall corners during cleaning, it is often difficult to clean effectively, resulting in missed areas and affecting the cleaning effect.

Therefore, when the cleaning robot cleans corners of obstacles such as wall corners during the cleaning process, it can use the side brush for cleaning. However, the related technology uses a side brush for cleaning. On the one hand, a fixed side brush is used, which has poor flexibility and is easily collided or squeezed by obstacles during use. On the other hand, when using the side brush, the cleaning robot needs to stop moving at a fixed position for cleaning, which causes the cleaning robot to move unsmoothly and have low cleaning efficiency.

Based on this, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a control method for a cleaning robot, which can be applied to a cleaning robot, and the cleaning robot can implement the method through hardware and/or software. In this exemplary embodiment, the cleaning robot includes a retractable cleaner, and the first projection of the retractable cleaner on the horizontal plane when extended is at least partially located outside the second projection of the body of the cleaning robot on the horizontal plane, so as to ensure that when the cleaning robot extends the retractable cleaner, the cleaning range of the retractable cleaner can exceed the projection range of the body of the cleaning robot on the horizontal plane. Among them, the retractable cleaner refers to a cleaning device that can be retracted and changed, and the cleaning device can achieve cleaning work on the environment by including cleaning media of different materials or forms such as cleaning cloths or cleaning brushes. The retractable method of the retractable cleaner can be rotational retractable. For example, as shown in Figure 1, with a reference point a on the body of the cleaning robot P as the center of the circle and a mechanical arm of a preset length as the radius, the other end b located at the center of the circle a of the mechanical arm is rotated out from the S2 or S3 position to the S1 position outside the body of the cleaning robot, so that the cleaning task can be performed by the cleaning medium configured on the mechanical arm, or retracted to the S2/S3 position inside the body. The telescopic method can also be sliding telescopic. For example, based on the push-pull operation between the retractable inner rod and the pipe sleeve, the telescopic arm is extended or retracted. In addition, the above-mentioned cleaning robot may also include other devices, such as a cleaning roller configured at the bottom of the cleaning robot to clean the floor.

2 , a flow chart of a method for controlling a cleaning robot provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The method may include the following steps S210 to S220:

Step S210, in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters an angle area, controlling the cleaning robot to extend a retractable cleaner; the angle area is an area determined based on an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges.

The angle area refers to the obstacle edge area formed by the intersection of the obstacle edges. The obstacle can be any object with an edge or that can form an obstacle edge, such as a wall, a step, a cabinet, or a box, etc. In this exemplary embodiment, the angle area can be an area determined by the angle formed by the intersection of the edges of obstacles of the same type, such as a wall corner area, or an area determined by the angle formed by the intersection of the edges of obstacles of different types, such as an angle area formed by the intersection of one side of a cabinet and one side of a wall, etc.

When the cleaning robot is in working state, it can perform positioning tasks or target detection tasks through a variety of sensors or functional modules to determine the position of the cleaning robot or identify or detect objects in the environment, such as identifying angle areas such as wall corners or cabinet corners. When the cleaning robot is detected to enter the angle area, the cleaning robot can be controlled to extend the retractable cleaner.

In an exemplary embodiment, in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters the angle area, controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaning device may include:

In response to detecting that an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges exists in the area to be cleaned, and the distances between the cleaning robot and the two obstacle edges are both smaller than the reference size of the cleaning robot, the cleaning robot is controlled to extend the retractable cleaner. That is, when it is detected that an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges exists in the area to be cleaned, and the distances between the cleaning robot and the two obstacle edges are both smaller than the reference size of the cleaning robot, it can be determined that the cleaning robot is detected to have entered the angle area.

The area to be cleaned refers to the area where the cleaning robot needs to perform cleaning tasks, which can be the entire area in the environment, the area that has not been cleaned in the environment, or a pre-set area. In this exemplary embodiment, the definition of the angle area can be the angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges in the area to be cleaned, and the distance between the cleaning robot and the two obstacle edges is less than the reference size of the cleaning robot. When the cleaning robot is detected to enter an area that meets the requirements in the area to be cleaned, it is considered that the cleaning robot enters the angle area. The reference size can be pre-set according to actual needs or scene needs, such as customizing a reference size according to user preferences; it can also be determined according to the size of the robot itself, such as the diameter size of a circular robot.

In an exemplary embodiment, if the body of the cleaning robot is circular, the reference dimension is the diameter of the body; if the body of the cleaning robot is polygonal, the reference dimension is the length of a side of the body.

In this exemplary embodiment, the reference size can be used as a judgment condition for triggering whether the cleaning robot extends the retractable cleaner. When the body of the cleaning robot is circular, the reference size can be the diameter of the body of the cleaning robot, that is, when the cleaning robot is detected to enter an angle area, wherein in the angle area, two obstacle edges intersect to form an angle, and the distance between the cleaning robot and the two obstacle edges is less than the diameter of the cleaning robot, the retractable cleaner can be extended. When the body of the cleaning robot is a polygon, the reference size can be a side length of the cleaning robot body, and the side length can be a randomly selected side length, or one of the side lengths set by a custom setting, or the minimum side length of the polygon. For example, when the cleaning robot is detected to enter an angle area, wherein in the angle area, two obstacle edges intersect to form an angle, and the distance between the cleaning robot and the two obstacle edges is less than the minimum side length of the cleaning robot, the retractable cleaner can be extended.

In an exemplary embodiment, the angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges may be an angle within a preset angle range.

In this exemplary embodiment, the angle of the angle area can be limited so that when the cleaning robot identifies an angle area of a specific angle, it turns on the angle area cleaning mode and extends the retractable cleaner to clean the angle area, while performing the normal cleaning mode in the non-angle area where the specific angle is not identified. The preset angle range can be set to a lower limit of 0 and an upper limit of 180°. For example, angles of 9°, 120°, etc. can be regarded as angle areas. In addition, the preset angle range can also be set to [60°, 120°].

Figures 3 and 4 show schematic diagrams of angle regions corresponding to angles in different preset angle ranges, where P represents a cleaning robot. Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of an angle region at an angle of 120°, and Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of an angle region at an angle of 90°.

Step S220, controlling the cleaning robot to move within the angle area, and cleaning the angle area by means of the retractable cleaner during the movement.

When the cleaning robot enters the angle area, it can move in the angle area. The movement can be linear motion, curvilinear motion, rotational motion, etc., or transient motion or reciprocating motion, etc. When moving, since the cleaning robot extends the retractable cleaner, the angle area can be cleaned by the retractable cleaner. When the cleaning robot cleans the angle area, it can maintain a continuous moving state without stopping. In this way, it can be ensured that the retractable cleaner, in the extended state, cooperates with the moving state of the cleaning robot to continuously clean the angle area.

In an exemplary embodiment, the above-mentioned controlling the cleaning robot to move within the angle region includes:

The cleaning robot is controlled to move within the angle region at a first moving speed; the first moving speed is less than a second moving speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle region.

Considering that the angled area is usually narrow, cramped, and concave, it is not easy to clean. Therefore, in order to ensure that the cleaning robot can accurately and effectively clean the angled area, the exemplary embodiment can set the cleaning robot to move in the angled area at a first moving speed, wherein the first moving speed is less than the second moving speed of the cleaning robot outside the angled area. The specific size of the first moving speed can be customized as needed, and can also be set according to the size of the second moving speed. For example, the first moving speed is set to half or two-thirds of the second moving speed, etc., and the present disclosure does not make specific limitations on this.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control method of the cleaning robot may further include:

When the cleaning robot needs to rotate within the angle area, the cleaning robot is controlled to rotate at a first rotation speed; the first rotation speed is lower than a second rotation speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle area.

When the cleaning robot moves in the angle area, it can also rotate and move. Considering that when the cleaning robot rotates in the area outside the angle area, most of the time it is to change direction, and in this exemplary embodiment, the angle area is small, when the cleaning robot rotates in the angle area, the purpose is not only to change direction, but also to effectively clean the area involved in the retractable cleaner during the rotation process. Therefore, in order to ensure the cleaning efficiency, when the cleaning robot needs to rotate in the angle area, the exemplary embodiment can limit the rotation speed. Specifically, it can be to control the cleaning robot to rotate at a first rotation speed, and the first rotation speed is less than the second rotation speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle area. The setting of the first rotation speed and the second rotation speed can be set according to specific needs, and the first rotation speed and the second rotation speed can have an associated relationship, for example, the first rotation speed is half of the second rotation speed, and the first rotation speed and the second rotation speed may not have a corresponding relationship, etc., and the present disclosure does not make specific limitations on this.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control method of the cleaning robot may further include:

Acquiring a first electrical signal value for controlling the retractable cleaner before issuing a first control instruction; the first control instruction is used to control the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner;

monitoring a value of a second electrical signal for controlling the retractable cleaning device during extension of the retractable cleaning device;

If the difference between the second electrical signal value and the first electrical signal value reaches a preset threshold, it is determined that the retractable cleaner has an extension abnormality, and the cleaning robot is controlled to retract the retractable cleaner and extend it again.

Among them, the first control instruction refers to an instruction for controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner. For example, when the cleaning robot is detected to enter the angle area, the first control instruction is issued. The electrical signal value refers to the current data of the retractable cleaner during the extension process, and the first electrical signal value and the second electrical signal value can be current data corresponding to different timestamps. For example, before issuing the first control instruction, the current value A of the retractable cleaner is recorded, that is, the first electrical signal value. The process of extending the retractable cleaner can be the entire extension process or a preset time period of the extension process, such as the extension process within 600ms (milliseconds). In this process, the second electrical signal value can be monitored, for example, the current value B is recorded every 20ms within 600ms, and the current value B can be used as the second electrical signal value. By comparing whether the difference between the second electrical signal value and the first electrical signal value reaches the threshold, it is determined whether the retractable cleaner has an abnormal extension. For example, the formula: the second electrical signal value B-the first electrical signal value A≥k can be used to determine whether the retractable cleaner has an abnormal extension. Wherein, k can be set according to specific circumstances, or calculated according to a specific formula. In this exemplary embodiment, k=preset parameter/A can be set, wherein the preset parameter can be set to k=0.4. When it is determined that the retractable cleaner has an abnormal extension, the cleaner can be controlled to receive the retractable cleaner and perform an operation of extending it again.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control method of the cleaning robot may further include:

If the retractable cleaner is extended abnormally M times in succession, the extension of the retractable cleaner is abandoned.

In the process of extending the retractable cleaner, this exemplary embodiment can monitor the second electrical signal value to determine whether the retractable cleaner is abnormally extended, and repeatedly perform the operation of retracting and extending the retractable cleaner. In order to avoid power consumption, it can be set that if the retractable cleaner is extended abnormally for multiple times, the retractable cleaner is abandoned, for example, the retractable cleaner is not extended, and is retracted to the original position or a specific position, etc., and the retractable cleaner is triggered to extend when the retractable scene is entered next time.

In an exemplary embodiment, after the angle area is cleaned by the retractable cleaner during the movement, the control method of the cleaning robot may further include:

In response to satisfying the retraction condition, the cleaning robot is controlled to retract the retractable cleaner.

When the cleaning robot detects that the retractable cleaner has been retracted, it can be controlled to retract the retractable cleaner. The retracting condition can be a time condition, for example, the retracting condition is satisfied after the cumulative time from the extension of the retractable cleaner reaches a preset time length; the retracting condition can be a target detection condition, for example, the retracting condition is satisfied when the angle area cannot be detected, etc. The specific retracting condition can be configured according to actual needs, and the retracting condition can be set as one or more combinations, and the specific implementation can be assisted by specific hardware devices, such as a timer or a laser range sensor, etc.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control method of the cleaning robot may further include:

If no reset signal is received within the first preset time after issuing the second control instruction, it is determined that there is an abnormal retraction of the retractable cleaner, and the cleaning robot is controlled to extend the retractable cleaner and retract it again; the second control instruction is used to control the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner; the reset signal is used to indicate that the retractable cleaner has been retracted to the specified position.

Among them, the second control instruction refers to the instruction for controlling the retractable cleaner to be retracted, and whether the first preset time is used to determine whether the retractable cleaner is normally retracted. For example, the first preset time can be the longest time or average time of the retractable cleaner retraction process, such as the first preset time can be set to 2s. The reset signal refers to the sensing data used to reflect the return of the retractable cleaner to the reference position. For example, in the cleaning robot shown in Figure 1, when the retractable cleaner is in position S2, it can be considered as the reset position, corresponding to the reset signal "1", position S1 can be considered as the extended target position, corresponding to the signal "0", and position S3 can be considered as the safety position, corresponding to the signal "0". When the retractable cleaner of the cleaning robot is squeezed or pushed by an obstacle, it can be forced to retract to the safety position. This exemplary embodiment can obtain sensing data by configuring a sensor, such as a Hall sensor, in the cleaning robot to determine the status signal of the retractable cleaner.

If no reset signal is received within the first preset time after issuing the second control instruction, it can be considered that the retractable cleaner is currently encountering an obstacle or problem, and there is a retraction abnormality, which makes it unable to retract normally. At this time, the cleaning robot can be controlled to extend the retractable cleaner and perform the retraction operation again to try to solve the abnormal problem in the recovery process.

In an exemplary embodiment, before controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner and retract it again, the control method of the cleaning robot may further include:

Control the cleaning robot to rotate to a preset angle.

Considering that the retractable cleaner of the cleaning robot may be stuck by a certain obstacle, causing it to be unable to be retracted normally, adjusting the angle of the cleaning robot may be able to resolve the obstacle's blocking of the retractable cleaner. Therefore, in this exemplary embodiment, when the cleaning robot cannot retract the retractable cleaner normally, before retracting the retractable cleaner again, the cleaning robot can be controlled to rotate so as to adjust the orientation of the cleaning robot in an attempt to resolve the situation where the retractable cleaner is stuck by an obstacle and cannot be retracted normally. The preset rotation angle and rotation direction may be random or pre-set. For example, when a retractable cleaner device as shown in FIG. 1 is provided, it may be set to rotate to the left at a preset angle of 45° to facilitate the reverse resolution of the problem of the retractable cleaner being stuck or entangled.

In an exemplary embodiment, the above-mentioned reclaiming conditions may include at least one of the following:

The cleaning robot leaves the angle area; and the time duration for which the retractable cleaner is extended reaches a second preset time duration.

In actual applications, the cleaning robot can perform continuous or periodic detection of the surrounding environment through the device or sensor equipment configured for target detection. When it is detected that the cleaning robot leaves the angle area, for example, when it is determined by laser ranging that the distance between the robot and the corner exceeds the size of the angle area, or when no obstacles such as walls are detected, it can be determined that the retraction condition is met and the retraction operation of the retractable cleaner is performed. In addition, it is also possible to set a retraction condition for triggering the retractable cleaner to be retracted when the time the retractable cleaner is extended reaches a second preset time. Among them, the second preset time can be determined based on the historical cleaning time of the angle area, or it can be a pre-set custom time, or it can be the estimated time required to complete the cleaning determined based on the size of the angle area, etc., and the present disclosure does not make specific limitations on this.

FIG5 shows a flow chart of a control method for a retractable cleaner, which may specifically include the following steps:

Step S502, when it is detected that the cleaning robot enters the angle area, the cleaning robot enters the angle area cleaning mode, and controls the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaning device;

Step S504, determining whether the retractable cleaner has an abnormal extension;

Step S506, if there is an extension abnormality, controlling the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner and extend it again;

Step S508, determining whether the extending of the retractable cleaner for M consecutive times is abnormal;

Step S510, if there is an extension anomaly, giving up extending the retractable cleaner;

Step S512, if there is no extension abnormality, the control of the cleaning robot is normally operated;

Step S514, when the detection meets the retraction condition, the cleaning robot is controlled to retract the retractable cleaning device;

Step S516, determining whether there is any abnormality in the retraction of the retractable cleaner;

Step S518, if there is a retraction abnormality, control the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner and retract it again;

Step S520, determining whether there is any abnormality in the retraction of the retractable cleaner;

Step S522, if the retractable cleaner is retracted again and there is still a retraction abnormality, the cleaning robot is controlled to rotate a preset angle and then the retractable cleaner is retracted;

Step S524: If there is no retraction abnormality, the control of the cleaning robot is operated normally.

Based on the above description, in this exemplary embodiment, in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters the angle area, the cleaning robot is controlled to extend a retractable cleaner; the angle area is an area determined based on the angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges; the cleaning robot is controlled to move within the angle area, and the angle area is cleaned by the retractable cleaner during the movement. On the one hand, this exemplary embodiment provides a new control method for a cleaning robot, which can control the cleaning robot to extend a retractable cleaner when the cleaning robot enters the angle area, so as to expand the cleaning range of the cleaning robot by extending the retractable cleaner beyond the projection of the cleaning robot body on the horizontal plane, and effectively clean the angle area, which is a special application scenario; on the other hand, this exemplary embodiment can control the cleaning robot to move in the angle area while extending the retractable cleaner, so that the retractable cleaner cooperates with the moving state of the cleaning robot, and improves the cleaning efficiency of the cleaning robot in the angle area.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a control device for a cleaning robot is also provided. As shown in FIG6 , the control device 600 for the cleaning robot may include: a cleaner control module 610, for controlling the cleaning robot to extend a retractable cleaner in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters an angle area; the angle area is an area determined based on the angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges; and a cleaner cleaning module 620, for controlling the cleaning robot to move within the angle area, and to clean the angle area through the retractable cleaner during the movement.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a cleaner control module includes: an angle detection unit for detecting whether there is an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges in the area to be cleaned, and whether the distance between the cleaning robot and the two obstacle edges is less than the reference size of the cleaning robot.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, if the body of the cleaning robot is circular, the reference dimension is the diameter of the body; if the body of the cleaning robot is polygonal, the reference dimension is the length of one side of the body.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the angle detection unit is configured to detect whether there is an angle within a preset angle range formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges in the area to be cleaned.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a cleaning module of a cleaner includes: a moving speed control unit, used to control the cleaning robot to move at a first moving speed within an angle area; the first moving speed is less than a second moving speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle area.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the control device of the cleaning robot also includes: a rotation speed control unit, which is used to control the cleaning robot to rotate at a first rotation speed when the cleaning robot needs to rotate within the angle area; the first rotation speed is less than the second rotation speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle area.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the control device of the cleaning robot also includes: a first signal value acquisition unit, used to acquire a first electrical signal value for controlling the retractable cleaner before issuing a first control instruction; the first control instruction is used to control the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner; a second signal value monitoring unit, used to monitor the second electrical signal value for controlling the retractable cleaner during the process of extending the retractable cleaner; a signal value difference judgment unit, used to judge that the retractable cleaner has an extension abnormality if the difference between the second electrical signal value and the first electrical signal value reaches a preset threshold, and control the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner and extend it again.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the control device of the cleaning robot further includes: an extension abnormality detection unit for giving up extending the retractable cleaner if there is an extension abnormality when the retractable cleaner is extended M times consecutively.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, after the angle area is cleaned by the retractable cleaner during movement, the control device of the cleaning robot further includes: a retraction condition judgment unit for controlling the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner in response to satisfying the retraction condition.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the control device of the cleaning robot also includes: a reset signal judgment unit, which is used to judge that there is a retraction abnormality in the retractable cleaner if no reset signal is received within a first preset time period after the second control instruction is issued, and control the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner and retract it again; the second control instruction is used to control the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner; the reset signal is used to indicate that the retractable cleaner has been retracted to a specified position.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, before controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner and retract it again, the control device of the cleaning robot further includes: an angle rotation control unit for controlling the cleaning robot to rotate a preset angle.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the retraction condition includes at least one of the following: the cleaning robot leaves the angle area; the time duration of the extension of the retractable cleaner reaches a second preset time duration.

The specific details of the control device modules of each of the above-mentioned cleaning robots have been described in detail in the control method of the corresponding cleaning robot, so they will not be repeated here.

It should be noted that, although several modules or units of the device for execution are mentioned in the above detailed description, this division is not mandatory. In fact, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be embodied in one module or unit. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided into multiple modules or units to be embodied.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device capable of implementing the above method is also provided. For example, the electronic device may be a cleaning robot capable of implementing the above method.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented as systems, methods or program products. Therefore, various aspects of the present disclosure may be specifically implemented in the following forms, namely: complete hardware implementation, complete software implementation (including firmware, microcode, etc.), or a combination of hardware and software, which may be collectively referred to herein as "circuits", "modules" or "systems".

The electronic device 700 according to this exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is described below with reference to Fig. 7. The electronic device 700 shown in Fig. 7 is only an example and should not bring any limitation to the functions and scope of use of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in Fig. 7, the electronic device 700 is presented in the form of a general-purpose computing device. The components of the electronic device 700 may include, but are not limited to: the at least one processing unit 710, the at least one storage unit 720, a bus 730 connecting different system components (including the storage unit 720 and the processing unit 710), and a display unit 740.

The storage unit stores program codes, which can be executed by the processing unit 710, so that the processing unit 710 executes the steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure described in the above “Exemplary Method” section of this specification. For example, the processing unit 710 can execute the steps shown in FIG. 2, etc.

The storage unit 720 may include a readable medium in the form of a volatile storage unit, such as a random access memory unit (RAM) 721 and/or a cache memory unit 722 , and may further include a read-only memory unit (ROM) 723 .

The storage unit 720 may also include a program/utility 724 having a set (at least one) of program modules 725, such program modules 725 including but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which or some combination may include an implementation of a network environment.

Bus 730 may represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory unit bus or memory unit controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

The electronic device 700 may also communicate with one or more external devices 800 (e.g., keyboards, pointing devices, Bluetooth devices, etc.), may also communicate with one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device 700, and/or communicate with any device that enables the electronic device 700 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., routers, modems, etc.). Such communication may be performed via an input/output (I/O) interface 750. Furthermore, the electronic device 700 may also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and/or public networks, such as the Internet) via a network adapter 760. As shown, the network adapter 760 communicates with other modules of the electronic device 700 via a bus 730. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figure, other hardware and/or software modules may be used in conjunction with the electronic device 700, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems, etc.

Through the description of the above implementation, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the example implementation described here can be implemented by software, or by software combined with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the implementation of the present disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to enable a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the implementation of the present disclosure.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, on which a program product capable of implementing the above method of the present specification is stored. In some possible implementations, various aspects of the present disclosure may also be implemented in the form of a program product, which includes a program code, and when the program product is run on a terminal device, the program code is used to enable the terminal device to execute the steps according to various exemplary implementations of the present disclosure described in the above "Exemplary Method" section of the present specification.

According to the program product for implementing the above method in the embodiment of the present disclosure, it can adopt a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) and include program code, and can be run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the program product of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In this document, a readable storage medium can be any tangible medium containing or storing a program, which can be used by or in combination with an instruction execution system, an apparatus or a device.

The program product may use any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device or device, or any combination of the above. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of readable storage media include: an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above.

Computer readable signal media may include data signals propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, in which readable program code is carried. Such propagated data signals may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination of the above. Readable signal media may also be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium, which may send, propagate, or transmit a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The program code embodied on the readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Program code for performing the operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages such as Java, C++, etc., and conventional procedural programming languages such as "C" or similar programming languages. The program code may be executed entirely on the user computing device, partially on the user device, as a separate software package, partially on the user computing device and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In cases involving a remote computing device, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., through the Internet using an Internet service provider).

In addition, the above-mentioned figures are only schematic illustrations of the processes included in the method according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to be limiting. It is easy to understand that the processes shown in the above-mentioned figures do not indicate or limit the time sequence of these processes. In addition, it is also easy to understand that these processes can be performed synchronously or asynchronously, for example, in multiple modules.

Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate other embodiments of the present disclosure after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present disclosure that follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or customary technical means in the art that are not disclosed in the present disclosure. The specification and examples are to be considered as exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure are indicated by the claims.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the exact structures that have been described above and shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims (15)

A control method for a cleaning robot, wherein the cleaning robot comprises a retractable cleaner, and a first projection of the retractable cleaner on a horizontal plane when extended is at least partially located outside a second projection of a body of the cleaning robot on the horizontal plane; the method comprises: In response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters an angle area, controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaning device; the angle area is an area determined based on an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges; The cleaning robot is controlled to move within the angle region, and the retractable cleaner cleans the angle region during the movement. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters the angle area, controlling the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner comprises: In response to detecting that there is an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges in the area to be cleaned, and the distance between the cleaning robot and the two obstacle edges is smaller than the reference size of the cleaning robot, the cleaning robot is controlled to extend the retractable cleaner. The method according to claim 2, wherein the body of the cleaning robot is circular, and the reference dimension is the diameter of the body; or the body of the cleaning robot is polygonal, and the reference dimension is the length of a side of the body. The method according to claim 2, wherein the angle formed by the intersection of the two obstacle edges is within a preset angle range. The method according to claim 1, wherein controlling the cleaning robot to move within the angle region comprises: The cleaning robot is controlled to move within the angle region at a first moving speed; the first moving speed is less than a second moving speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle region. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to determining that the cleaning robot needs to rotate within the angle region, the cleaning robot is controlled to rotate at a first rotation speed; the first rotation speed is less than a second rotation speed of the cleaning robot outside the angle region. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Acquiring a first electrical signal value for controlling the retractable cleaner before issuing a first control instruction; the first control instruction is used to control the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaner; monitoring a value of a second electrical signal for controlling the retractable cleaning device during extension of the retractable cleaning device; In response to determining that the difference between the second electrical signal value and the first electrical signal value reaches a preset threshold, it is determined that the retractable cleaner has an extension abnormality, and the cleaning robot is controlled to retract the retractable cleaner and extend it again. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: In response to determining that there are extension anomalies in M consecutive extensions of the retractable cleaner, the extension of the retractable cleaner is abandoned. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to satisfying a retracting condition, the cleaning robot is controlled to retract the retractable cleaner. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: In response to determining that no reset signal is received within a first preset time period after issuing a second control instruction, it is determined that there is a retraction abnormality in the retractable cleaner, and the cleaning robot is controlled to extend the retractable cleaner and retract it again; the second control instruction is used to control the cleaning robot to retract the retractable cleaner; the reset signal is used to indicate that the retractable cleaner has been retracted to a specified position. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: The cleaning robot is controlled to rotate at a preset angle. The method according to claim 10, wherein the retraction condition includes at least one of the following: the cleaning robot leaves the angle area; the time duration of the extension of the retractable cleaner reaches a second preset time duration. A control device for a cleaning robot, wherein the cleaning robot comprises a retractable cleaner, and a first projection of the retractable cleaner on a horizontal plane when extended is at least partially located outside a second projection of a body of the cleaning robot on the horizontal plane; the device comprises: a cleaning device control module, configured to control the cleaning robot to extend the retractable cleaning device in response to detecting that the cleaning robot enters an angle region; the angle region is a region determined based on an angle formed by the intersection of two obstacle edges; The cleaning module of the cleaner is used to control the cleaning robot to move within the angle area, and to clean the angle area by the retractable cleaner during the movement. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the control method of the cleaning robot according to any one of claims 1 to 12. An electronic device, comprising: Processor; and A memory, configured to store executable instructions of the processor; Wherein, the processor is configured to execute the control method of the cleaning robot according to any one of claims 1 to 12 by executing the executable instructions.