Robot confinement

US8868237B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• iRobot Corporation · US

Inventors

• Paul E. Sandin · Brookline, US
• Joseph L. Jones · Acton, US
• Daniel N. Ozick · Newton, US
• David A. Cohen · Briarcliff Manor, US
• David M. Lewis, Jr. · Tyngsborough, US
• Clara Vu · Cambridge, US
• Zivthan A. Dubrovsky · Lexington, US
• Joshua B. Preneta · Billerica, US
• Jeffrey W. Mammen · Westford, US
• Duane L. Gilbert, Jr. · Goffstown, US
• Tony L. Campbell · Pepperell, US
• John Bergman · River Falls, US
• Mark Chiappetta · Chelmsford, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 19, 2007
• Grant date: Oct 21, 2014
• Expiry date: May 11, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S901/09
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An autonomous coverage robot system includes an active boundary responder comprising a wire powered with a modulated current placed along a perimeter of a property, at least one passive boundary responder placed on a property interior circumscribed by the active boundary responder, and an autonomous coverage robot. The robot includes a drive system carried by a body and configured to maneuver the robot across the property interior. The robot includes a signal emitter emitting a signal, where the passive boundary responder is responsive to the signal and a boundary responder detection system carried by the body. The boundary responder detector is configured to redirect the robot both in response to the responder detection system detecting an active boundary responder and in response to detecting a passive boundary responder.