Floor Cleaning Robot Brainstorming

Hi,

I am thinking of building a robot to clean/mop my floor. I am not new to robots, but I am new to lightweight design of a vacuum/scrubber/mop system that I would fit on my robot (or robots to reduce the weight). Now this robot would be the size of Scooba or Romba (2 commercial robots, maybe 30 cm in diameter), as I want it to be big enough to maneuver around the furniture.

I need an idea for the mop and vacuum systems that would be lightweight and powered from a robot’s battery pack (battery will be sized as based on the requirements from microcontroller, sensors, motors and cleaning units but again trying to keep it cheap).
I am aware that there are car vacuums which run on 12 V supply, but I am wondering if you guys have any other ideas for the vacuum?

My main problem is with mopping system design.

The simplest breakdown of mopping is to:
1. Spill the clean water over a “dirty” surface of the floor
2. Use the mop over that surface
3. Collect the dirty water from the floor
4. Clean the mop
5. Move on to next “dirty” area.
6. Repeat the above process

Can anybody suggest a way of achieving this, or point me to a website as I had no luck with google-ing?
How is this done on industrial or other robots?

I don’t mind building more than one robot each one assigned to do a specific task. I just hope that some of you guys can help me in brainstorming for the mop system.

Thank you

The simplest breakdown of mopping is to:
1. Spill the clean water over a “dirty” surface of the floor
2. Use the mop over that surface
3. Collect the dirty water from the floor
4. Clean the mop
5. Move on to next “dirty” area.
6. Repeat the above process

Click to expand...

Hi there

i try to explain how i would do those 6 steps


1) you have a tank on a robot what is filled with water (and soap) and this is "dripped" on the floor through a hose (or another tube) in the front of the robot.

2) there is a spinning mop under the robot (or thwo, what is better) that clean the floor

3) to collect the used water, there is another (or the same tank can be used if using vanish that "collects the dirt to the bottom of the tank")
the water gets to the tank by using two windo cleaners (those rubber thingys that you can use to sweep water of a window (or a windscreen wiper)). those are positioned under the robot after the spinning mops to collect the water to one spot and the it is pumped up into the tank

4) the robot must have a base to charge\discharge the water and to charge batterys. there when changing water you also clean the mop by just hispinning it in a water bowl.


this can be made continuasly and if the floor has not built yet, you jcould also put a signal wire under it for the robot to follow when moping around.




edit:

another idea:

there is a charger bot that runs betwean the base and the moper. it has a base for the moper to go on to clean the mops and also contains fresh water for the moper. this has to have only one tank. pump the clean water out and the dyrty one inside.

Similarity

Why not to watch the machines used to clean the streets? Perhaps not for polishing the floor but for a good cleaning anyway... :?:

Sorry for the late post. (been busy at work)

I like the idea of wipers to collect the water, and short of building something fancy, I think that a cleaning base is the most practical option.
Although a movable cleaning platform would be real cool, sort of like an air tanker and fighter.

I dismissed the street cleaners, cause they are scrubbers and most do not completely collect dirty water, which in my case could damage the hardwood floors.


Thanks for the ideas

hello again.

I just wanted to know, how is the project going? how far have you got with it? what ideas have you used? etc.

I wasn’t able to make any progress on this project for a long while now, mainly because I’ve been busy with moving to a different city. However, as soon as I’m settled, I intend to continue with the project.

I am sure I’ll be running into some problems and as always I’ll be on this forum to ask for opinions.