- Number
- 12715138
- Published
- 2026-08-25
- Filed
- 2022-10-11
- Assignee
- Disney Enterprises, Inc.
- Inventors
- Moy; Eric J.
- CPC
- B25J9/1697; H04N7/183; G05D1/249; G05D1/6987; G06V10/70; G06V20/40; G06V20/52; G06V20/54; G05D2105/10; G05D2107/70; G05D2109/10; G05D2111/10
- Verdict
- High Hardware
- First reported
- 2026-W36 (2026-09-05)
- Source
- Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline
The keeper's note
Autonomous surface-maintenance robot that adapts its cleaning to detected environmental factors.
Abstract
A system for performing surface maintenance based on one or more detected environmental factors for a surface monitored for maintenance. The system includes a surface monitoring assembly that monitors a surface for one or more environmental factors, such as a traffic pattern in a cleaning application, and the assembly may utilize one or more video cameras focused on a monitored surface along with video analytics software to process captured video to identify an environmental factor, such as heavy traffic, a spill, or the like. When an environmental factor is detected, the assembly passes this data to a maintenance control routine that processes the data to determine whether to vary the operations of an automated robot maintenance system provided in the system. The data can be used to define or modify a location, a time, and/or a parameter of a maintenance task or function (e.g., vacuuming versus wet mopping).
Background
BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Description (1) The present description relates, in general, to automated robot maintenance systems such as cleaning systems and their varied uses to maintain surfaces such as floors, and, more particularly, to a system (and associated methods) for maintaining surfaces based on detected and/or monitored environmental factors affecting the surfaces. 2. Relevant Background (2) In recent years, it has become more and more common for maintenance to be performed in an automated or non-manual manner using robots (i.e., a machine operated based on a set of instructions to perform a function or task). For example, automated robot cleaning systems have become widely used in residential as well as industrial settings. The cleaning systems often include a cleaning robot such as an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner that combines a vacuum floor cleaning system with sensors and robotic drives with programmable controllers and cleaning routines. While some are operated manually via a remote control, many cleaning robots are configured to have a self-drive mode that allows the machine to clean autonomously without human control. (3) Cleaning robots are now designed to provide a wide variety of cleaning functions, and an automated robot cleaning system may include one or more robots to perform the same or differing cleaning functions. Beyond mere vacuuming, cleaning robots may use spinning brushes to reach tight corners, and some include a number of cleaning feature
Claims
1. A system for performing surface maintenance based on environmental factors, comprising: a robot maintenance system comprising at least one maintenance robot configured to perform a maintenance task; a monitoring assembly comprising: a sensor having a video camera configured to monitor a surface for presence of a plurality of environmental factors, including at least traffic, and an analytics module configured to determine, based on output of the sensor, at least one environmental factor in a subset of the monitored surface, and a duration of the at least one environmental factor, and an origin for the at least one environmental factor such that a weight can be applied to the origin that corresponds with a classification associated with the origin; and a maintenance controller in communication with the monitoring assembly and configured to: identify a material of the subset of the monitored surface; determine an effect the at least one environmental factor has on the material of the subset of the monitored surface; determine a triggering period based on the material of the subset of the monitored surface and the effect the at least one environmental factor has on the material; determine the duration of the at least one environmental factor exceeds the triggering period; determine the weight applied to the origin exceeds a weight threshold; and generate, responsive to determining that the duration of the at least one environmental factor exceeds the triggering period and that the weight applied to the origin exceeds the weight threshold, a control request for the robot maintenance system, wherein the control request modifies or defines performance of the maintenance task at a location. ||
8. A method of maintaining a surface based on detection of environmental factors affecting the surface, comprising: operating a sensor to monitor the surface and generate sensor output; detecting, based on the sensor output, an environmental factor affecting a subset of the surface and an origin for the environmental factor; applying a weight to the origin that corresponds with a classification associated with the origin; identifying a material of the subset of the surface; determining an effect the environmental factor has on the material of the subset of the surface; determining a triggering period based on the material of the subset of the surface and the effect the environmental factor has on the material of the subset of the surface; determining the environmental factor affects the subset of the surface for a time period in excess of the triggering period; and modifying, responsive to determining that the time period is in excess of the triggering period and that the weight applied to the origin exceeds a weight threshold, operations of one or more maintenance robots to perform a maintenance task on the subset of the surface. ||
16. A robot cleaning system, comprising: a cleaning robot; a sensor configured to capture data associated with a monitored surface; an analytics module configured to: process the data captured by the sensor to detect a traffic pattern for traffic on the monitored surface; determine an origin for at least a portion of the traffic in the traffic pattern; and apply a weight to the origin that corresponds with a level of cleanliness associated with the origin; and a controller configured to: determine the weight applied to the origin exceeds a weight threshold; modify, responsive to determining the weight applied to the origin exceeds a weight threshold, a cleaning task for the cleaning robot to perform, wherein modifying the cleaning task includes modifying at least one of a timing of the performance of the cleaning task, a location of the performance of the cleaning task to include a subset of the monitored surface associated with the traffic pattern, or a parameter defining operations of the cleaning robot while completing the performance of the cleaning task; and control the cleaning robot to perform the modified cleaning task based on the weight applied to the origin exceeding the weight threshold.