Methods and systems for automated robotic movement

1 . A method for a robotic device to cover a work surface comprising:

performing cleaning as the robot covers the work surface;

capturing, with a sensor disposed on the robotic device, data of an environment of the robotic device;

detecting, with a processor of the robotic device, at least one obstacle present on the work surface based on the data;

accounting for at least one of the obstacles detected in a path to cover the work surface, wherein:

the direction in which the robotic device drives alternates upon rotating when reaching a terminal end of a first line of the path, arriving at an obstacle or a wall, and beginning to drive along an adjacent second line of the path after rotation, wherein the drive direction along the second line is opposite to the drive direction along the first line; and

the adjacent lines of the path are at a maximum distance of a width of a brush of the robotic device and a minimum distance determined based on at least a desired amount of overlap in coverage by the robotic device; and

actuating, with the processor, the robotic device to drive along in the workspace to complete coverage, wherein:

the processor instructs the robot to take an adapted path when a new obstacle is detected; and

the processor actuates the robotic device to drive along the adapted path to cover the remainder of the work surface.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a degree of the rotation is determined based on at least the width of the brush of the robotic device and the desired amount of overlap in coverage by the robotic device.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein lengths of the adjacent lines are determined based on at least the locations of obstacles within the environment.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the adapted path bypasses the new obstacle and the robotic device continues on the path.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, with the processor, a first working zone within the work surface.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein determining the first working zone comprises:

determining, with the processor, x-boundaries and y-boundaries of the first working zone based on the spatial data collected from sensors, wherein connecting the x-boundaries and the y-boundaries forms a quadrilateral.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the robotic device moves to a new location for determining a second working zone after covering the first working zone.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

dividing, with the processor, the work surface into a plurality of work zones.

9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the processor determines any of: a minimum possible zone size or a maximum possible zone size.

10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the user determines and the order of coverage of the zones.

11 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

detecting, with the processor, a number of obstacles encountered by the robotic device while executing the path.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first working zone further comprises:

determining, with the processor, distances to obstacles from a first location of the robotic device based on the spatial data;

actuating, with the processor, the robotic device to move to a new location; and

determining, with the processor, distances to obstacles from the new location of the robotic device based on the spatial data.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting, with the processor, the robotic device is in a confined obstacle-filled space; and

actuating, with the processor, the robotic device to execute a new path adapted for cleaning obstacle-filled spaces.

14 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first working zone is a room.

15 . The method of claim 6 , the first working zone is confined by a first wall and a second wall.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the processor selects a mode of the path taken based on spatial observations within the environment.

17 . A robotic device, comprising:

a chassis;

a set of wheels coupled to the chassis;

at least one electric motor for rotating the set of wheels;

at least one tool for performing work coupled to the chassis;

a processor electronically coupled to a plurality of sensors; and

a tangible, non-transitory, machine readable medium storing instructions that when executed by the processor effectuates operations comprising:

performing cleaning as the robot covers the work surface;

capturing, with a sensor disposed on the robotic device, data of an environment of the robotic device;

detecting, with a processor of the robotic device, at least one obstacle present on the work surface based on the data;

accounting for at least one of the obstacles detected in a path to cover the work surface, wherein:

the direction in which the robotic device drives alternates upon rotating when reaching a terminal end of a first line of the path, arriving at an obstacle or a wall, and beginning to drive along an adjacent second line of the path after rotation, wherein the drive direction along the second line is opposite to the drive direction along the first line; and

the adjacent lines of the path are at a maximum distance of a width of a brush of the robotic device and a minimum distance determined based on at least a desired amount of overlap in coverage by the robotic device; and

actuating, with the processor, the robotic device to drive along in the workspace to complete coverage, wherein:

the processor instructs the robot to take an adapted path when a new obstacle is detected; and

the processor actuates the robotic device to drive along the adapted path to cover the remainder of the work surface.

18 . The robotic device of claim 17 , wherein a degree of the rotation is determined based on at least the width of the brush of the robotic device and the desired amount of overlap in coverage by the robotic device.

19 . The robotic device of claim 17 , wherein lengths of the adjacent lines are determined based on at least the locations of obstacles within the environment.

20 . A tangible, non-transitory, machine readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor of a robotic device effectuates operations comprising:

performing cleaning as the robot covers the work surface;

capturing, with a sensor disposed on the robotic device, data of an environment of the robotic device;

detecting, with a processor of the robotic device, at least one obstacle present on the work surface based on the data;

accounting for at least one of the obstacles detected in a path to cover the work surface, wherein:

the direction in which the robotic device drives alternates upon rotating when reaching a terminal end of a first line of the path, arriving at an obstacle or a wall, and beginning to drive along an adjacent second line of the path after rotation, wherein the drive direction along the second line is opposite to the drive direction along the first line; and

the adjacent lines of the path are at a maximum distance of a width of a brush of the robotic device and a minimum distance determined based on at least a desired amount of overlap in coverage by the robotic device; and

actuating, with the processor, the robotic device to drive along in the workspace to complete coverage, wherein:

the processor instructs the robot to take an adapted path when a new obstacle is detected; and

the processor actuates the robotic device to drive along the adapted path to cover the remainder of the work surface.