Method and System for operating a solar robot with a charging position marker

• Main Authors: SVENSSON, Pär-Ola, HAMMARSTRÖM, Martin
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 22.09.2023
• Subjects: AGRICULTURE; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; CALCULATING; COMPUTING; CONTROLLING; COUNTING; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT OR PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLEDVEHICLES; ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES, IN GENERAL; FISHING; FORESTRY; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS; HARVESTING; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HUNTING; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MEASURING; MOWING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; RECOGNITION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; REGULATING; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; TESTING; TRANSPORTING; TRAPPING; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

A method for operating at least one autonomous robot (2), in particular an autonomous vegetation working robot, preferably an autonomous lawn robot, within an operating area, the robot comprising (i) at least one electrically driven tool, (ii) at least one electric motion drive for moving the robot, and (iii) at least one photoelectric device for converting energy from illuminating light, in particular sunlight, into electric energy for the tool and the motion drive, and (iv) at least one energy storage for storing electric energy charged by the photoelectric device and for supplying the tool and the motion drive with electric energy,the method comprising the steps ofa) the robot (2) working in an autonomous working mode within at least one working area (15) within the operating area,b) determining an electric energy stored in the energy storage of the robot or a directly associated electric quantity such as electric capacity or electric charge of the energy storage,c) if the determined stored energy or the directly associated electric quantity of the energy storage is below a minimum operating threshold, the robot moves or is moved to a charging position (CP, WP) for recharging the energy storage using the photoelectric device,d) wherein the charging position (CP, WP) is chosen from one or more charging positions, where, at least for a minimum recharging time period, the illumination intensity of the illuminating light will be higher than a high illumination threshold and/or where the illuminating light will essentially not be shaded by objects in or around the operating area, in particular vegetation objects such as hedges, bushes or trees or built objects such as buildings,e) wherein the or each charging position (CP) is defined by a corresponding position marker (5) placed at the charging position,f) wherein the robot, when moving or being moved to the charging position, searches for the position marker (5) and stops at the charging position within a certain distance from the position marker (5).