Patent ID: 11966222
Assignee: BISSELL INC.
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  G | IPC G

Claim 11:
12. A method for exiting a trapped condition performed by an autonomous floor cleaner during autonomous floor cleaning, the autonomous floor cleaner comprising an autonomously moveable housing, a drive system for autonomously moving the housing over a surface to be cleaned, and a controller for controlling the operation of the autonomous floor cleaner, the method comprising:
detecting that the autonomous floor cleaner is a trapped condition;
driving the autonomous floor cleaner in a zero-radius turn;
receiving, with the controller, input from a plurality of occupiable space sensors having overlapping sensing zones and configured to detect open areas around the autonomous floor cleaner;
searching for open areas around the autonomous floor cleaner by analyzing, with the controller, the input from the plurality of occupiable space sensors to identify the presence of an open area that meets a predetermined exit threshold and the presence of at least one area of occupiable space around the autonomous floor cleaner, wherein the at least one area of occupiable space comprises an open area large enough to drive the autonomous floor cleaner through;
in response to an identification of an open area that meets the predetermined exit threshold while searching for open areas:
stopping the zero-radius turn prior to completion of a 360 degree zero-radius turn; and
operating the drive system to drive the autonomous floor cleaner forwardly on a current heading; and

in response to completing at least a 360 degree zero-radius turn without an identification of an open area that meets the predetermined exit threshold while searching for open areas:
selecting a best heading for exiting the trapped condition based on an identification of at least one area of occupiable space around the autonomous floor cleaner during the zero-radius turn; and
operating the drive system to drive the autonomous floor cleaner forwardly on the best heading.