Cleaning robot and controlling method thereof

Inventors: Jongsoo Hong (Suwon-si, KR); Yongchan Kwon (Suwon-si, KR); Jeehoon Kim (Suwon-si, KR); Byoungwoo Ko (Suwon-si, KR); Donghun Lee (Suwon-si, KR)

Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

A47L11/4011 A47L11/282 A47L11/4002 A47L11/4038 A47L11/4066 A47L11/4069 A47L11/4091 G05D1/0225 A47L2201/02 A47L2201/04 A47L2201/06

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12672749
App. No.: 18/107,661
Granted: Jul 7, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

A cleaning robot including a main body; a motion driver configured to move the main body; a pad motor configured to rotate a pad below a bottom surface of the main body; a light source configured to irradiate light to the pad; and at least one processor configured to, based on an amount of reflection of the light from the pad, control rotation speed of the pad motor and/or control the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to a docking station.

Claims (37)

1 . A cleaning robot comprising:

a main body;

a motion driver configured to move the main body;

a pad motor configured to rotate a pad below a bottom surface of the main body;

a light source configured to irradiate light to the pad; and

at least one processor configured to, based on an amount of reflection of the light from the pad, perform control of the pad motor and the motion driver,

wherein the control of pad motor comprises controlling rotation speed of the pad motor and control of the motion driver comprises controlling the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to a docking station.

2 . The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to control the pad motor to increase the rotation speed of the pad in proportion to a change rate of the amount of reflection of the light from the pad during motion.

3 . The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to control the pad motor to increase the rotation speed of the pad in proportion to an accumulated integral value of amounts of changes in the amount of reflection of the light from the pad during motion.

4 . The cleaning robot of claim 1 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to determine whether to control the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to the docking station by comparing the amount of reflection of the light from the pad with a reference amount of light reflection corresponding to a threshold of degradation of cleaning power.

5 . The cleaning robot of claim 4 , wherein

the light is infrared light, and

the at least one processor is configured to control the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to the docking station based on the amount of reflection of the light from the pad being equal to or greater than the reference amount of light reflection corresponding to the threshold of degradation of cleaning power.

6 . The cleaning robot of claim 4 , wherein

the light is visible light, and

the at least one processor is configured to control the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to the docking station based on the amount of reflection of the light from the pad being equal to or smaller than the reference amount of light reflection corresponding to the threshold of degradation of cleaning power.

7 . The cleaning robot of claim 4 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to control a user interface to guide at least one of a cleaning of the pad and a replacement of the pad based on controlling the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to the docking station.

8 . The cleaning robot of claim 4 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to control the pad motor not to rotate the pad based on controlling the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to the docking station.

9 . The cleaning robot of claim 4 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to control the pad to be separated from a floor based on controlling the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to the docking station.

10 . The cleaning robot of claim 4 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to determine whether to control the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to the docking station by comparing an accumulated integral value of amounts of changes in the amount of reflection of the light from the pad with a reference accumulated integral value corresponding to a threshold of degradation of cleaning power.

11 . The cleaning robot of claim 4 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to adjust the reference amount of light reflection corresponding to the threshold of degradation of cleaning power to control the motion driver to return the cleaning robot to the docking station sooner based on the amount of reflection of the light from the pad changing at a preset change rate or higher.

12 . The cleaning robot of claim 11 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to change an amount of adjusting the reference amount of light reflection according to user settings.

13 . The cleaning robot of claim 11 , wherein

14 . The cleaning robot of claim 11 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to control a current location of the cleaning robot to be displayed as an event occurrence region on a cleaning map based on the amount of reflection of the light from the pad changing at the preset change rate or higher.

15 . The cleaning robot of claim 11 , wherein

the at least one processor is configured to set a current location of the cleaning robot to a restricted cleaning area based on the amount of reflection of the light from the pad changing at the preset change rate or higher.