US 11,832,552 B2
Autonomous lawn mower and a system for navigating thereof
Klaus Hahn, Kwai Chung (HK); Todd Brandon Rickey, Kwai Chung (HK); Benjamin Edgar Montgomery, Kwai Chung (HK); Nikolai Ensslen, Kwai Chung (HK); and Levent Yildirim, Kwai Chung (HK)
Assigned to TECHTRONIC OUTDOOR PRODUCTS TECHNOLOGY LIMITED, Hamilton (BM)
Appl. No. 16/312,236
Filed by TTI (MACAO COMMERCIAL OFFSHORE) LIMITED, Macau (MO)
PCT Filed Jun. 30, 2017, PCT No. PCT/CN2017/091129
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 20, 2018,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/001358, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 4, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 16107657.1 (HK), filed on Jun. 30, 2016; and application No. PCT/CN2017/082005 (WO), filed on Apr. 26, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2019/0258267 A1, Aug. 22, 2019
Int. Cl. A01D 34/00 (2006.01); G05D 1/02 (2020.01); B60L 50/60 (2019.01); B60L 53/62 (2019.01); A01D 34/84 (2006.01); A01D 34/54 (2006.01); A01D 34/69 (2006.01); A01D 34/74 (2006.01); A01D 34/78 (2006.01); A01D 101/00 (2006.01)
CPC A01D 34/008 (2013.01) [A01D 34/54 (2013.01); A01D 34/69 (2013.01); A01D 34/84 (2013.01); B60L 50/66 (2019.02); B60L 53/62 (2019.02); G05D 1/027 (2013.01); G05D 1/0219 (2013.01); G05D 1/0225 (2013.01); G05D 1/0231 (2013.01); G05D 1/0272 (2013.01); A01D 34/74 (2013.01); A01D 34/78 (2013.01); A01D 2101/00 (2013.01); G05D 1/0242 (2013.01); G05D 1/0246 (2013.01); G05D 1/0255 (2013.01); G05D 1/0257 (2013.01); G05D 1/0278 (2013.01); G05D 2201/0208 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An autonomous lawn mower comprising:
a mower body having at least one motor arranged to drive a cutting blade and to propel the mower body on an operating surface via a wheel arrangement, wherein the mower body includes a navigation system arranged to assist a controller to control the operation of the mower body within a predefined operating area;
wherein the navigation system includes an odometry module arranged to track movement of the mower body on the operating surface, wherein the odometry module includes one or more encoder sensors arranged to detect a rate of rotation of at least one wheel of the wheel arrangement,
wherein the rate of rotation of each wheel of the at least one wheel is applied to a transmission ratio to determine a respective rotation distance of each wheel,
wherein the one or more encoder sensors are disposed onto a driving motor arranged to drive the at least one wheel of the wheel arrangement,
wherein (i) a first wheel of the at least one wheel, (ii) the driving motor, (iii) a gearbox connected to the driving motor and the first wheel, and (iv) a first encoder sensor of the one or more encoder sensors are located on a motor axis of the driving motor,
wherein an amount of current drawn by the driving motor is measured and compared to the rate of rotation of the at least one wheel, and
wherein the controller is configured to detect spinning of the at least one wheel along the operating surface without movement of the mower body in response to determining that the current drawn by the driving motor is low relative to the rate of rotation of the at least one wheel.