| 摘要 |
The navigation sensor 23 of a robot vacuum cleaner includes ultrasonic emitting and sensing means 116 and optical emitting and sensing means 118 mounted on a bracket 112 inside a protective housing 120. The ultrasonic means 116 senses the distance to an obstacle blocking the path of the cleaner and the optical means determines the moving direction of the cleaner. The direction sensing system includes an array 124 of triangular reflectors 124a fixed to the inside of the housing 120 which rotates relative to the bracket carrying the optical emitter and receiver when the direction of travel of the cleaner changes. The direction of rotation of the cleaner can be determined from the variation in the output of the optical sensor resulting from the shape of the triangular reflectors 124a. Also disclosed is a system for sensing raised or depressed floor areas (figure 8), a system for selecting a cleaning program by determining the configuration of the area to be cleaned by initially causing the cleaner to move around the periphery of a room and an optical direction sensing system (figure 6). |
