Patent Document ID: 20010022506
Application ID: 09841511
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for automatically operating a robot within an enclosed area, comprising the steps of: providing a boundary along the perimeter of the working area, the said boundary being detectable by a proximity sensor; providing boundaries along the perimeter of each area enclosed in the working area, in which it is desired that the robot should not operate, the said boundaries also being detectable by a proximity sensor; providing a proximity sensor positioned on the robot; providing processing means connected to the said proximity sensor and receiving an input therefrom; providing location means on the said robot, to determine the coordinates of the robot relative to an arbitrary origin, at any specific time; providing direction finding means; providing memory means to store values generated by the said processing means and, optionally, by the said location means; causing the robot to move along each of the boundaries provided around or within the said working area, to detect the said boundaries and to memorize their shape, and to store in the memory means values representative of the coordinates of the said boundaries, relative to an arbitrary origin, thereby to generate a basic map of the working area; when the robot is to operate within the said area: (a) causing the robot to start from a starting point having known coordinates within the basic map of the working area; (b) continuously determining the coordinates of the robot by analyzing data obtained from the location means and by detecting the vicinity of a boundary; and (c) correcting the actual position of the robot on the basic map by comparing the calculated and the actual coordinates of each detected boundary.