Learned escape behaviors of a mobile robot

US11656628B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• iRobot Corporation · US

Inventors

• Laura V. Herlant · Arlington, US
• Aravindh Kuppusamy · Bedford, US
• Deepak Sharma · Kanchinakote, IN
• Kshitij Bichave · Bedford, US
• Shao Zhou · Denver, US
• Cheuk Wah Wong · Bedford, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 15, 2020
• Grant date: May 23, 2023
• Expiry date: May 13, 2041

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A47L2201/04
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Described herein are systems, devices, and methods for controlling a mobile cleaning robot to escape from a stuck state using a learned robot escape behavior model. The model is trained using reinforcement learning at a cloud-computing device or networked devices. A mobile cleaning robot comprises a drive system, a sensor circuit to collect sensor data associated with a detected stuck state, and a controller circuit that can receive the trained robot escape behavior model, and apply the sensor data associated with the detected stuck state to the trained robot escape behavior model to determine an escape policy. The drive system or one or more actuators of the mobile robot can remove the mobile robot from the stuck state according to the determined escape policy.