US 8,428,776 B2
METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING A DESIRED AREA OF CONFINEMENT FOR AN AUTONOMOUS ROBOT AND AUTONOMOUS ROBOT IMPLEMENTING A CONTROL SYSTEM FOR EXECUTING THE SAMEGeneral
US 8,428,776 B2
METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING A DESIRED AREA OF CONFINEMENT FOR AN AUTONOMOUS ROBOT AND AUTONOMOUS ROBOT IMPLEMENTING A CONTROL SYSTEM FOR EXECUTING THE SAME
Tech Center:
3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security and License and Review
Examiner:
James Trammell
Art Unit:
3667 Computerized Vehicle Controls and Navigation, Radio Wave, Optical and Acoustic Wave Communication, Robotics, and Nuclear Systems
Agent:
The Belles Group, P.C.
Inventors:
Michael Todd Letsky
Assignee:
Priority:
06/18/10
Filed:
06/18/10
Granted:
04/23/13
Expiration:
12/14/29
Abstract
A method of establishing an area of confinement and an autonomous robot for performing a task within the area of confinement. In one aspect, the invention can be a method of defining an area of confinement comprising: positioning the autonomous robot at a starting point P0 and recording the starting point P0 as a reference point within a memory device; moving the autonomous robot from the starting point P0 about a perimeter of the area of confinement, wherein said movement of the autonomous robot is controlled by a user; continuously tracking location of the autonomous robot relative to the reference point P0 during said movement using a distance-traveled measuring mechanism and a directional indicating instrument; recording the tracked location as a map in the memory device; and upon detecting that the map includes a closed-geometry, defining the closed-geometry as the perimeter of the area of confinement within the memory device.
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
G05G05D1/0225G05DA47L2201/00A47LA01D34/008A01D