The working principle and application chip of sweeping robot

With busy daily work, people don't want to do housework when they get home, but it is really distressing to see the hair, food residues, bed bottoms, cabinets and other cleaning on the floor every day. If you want to be free from the heavy household cleaning, sweeping the floor has become an option for the majority of people.

The sweeping robot is small and flexible, and can easily clean dead corners that cannot be cleaned by human power, such as under the bed and sofa. In addition, the entire cleaning process does not require human control, it will automatically complete the work, reducing the operating burden. Users can operate the sweeping robot in real time through the APP, master the cleaning path and cleaning progress, and become a real-life "Snail Girl".

So how does a robot vacuum cleaner work? And what does it need?

01Sweeping robot

The working principle of the sweeping robot is to perceive and identify the home environment in real time through the sensors and sensors on the robot, so that it can autonomously plan the cleaning route and use various cleaning tools to clean the floor. The core technologies of the automatic sweeping robot include image processing, image processing, path planning, etc. Through the comprehensive application of these technologies, the robot can gradually achieve autonomy and automation.

In the process of technological development, sweeping robots have undergone many major transformations.

Initially, sweeping robots could only walk along pre-set paths and could not effectively respond to changes in the environment and different cleaning needs. However, with the advancement of robotics technology, sweeping robots have begun to have a certain degree of intelligence, capable of autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance, and can also identify and clean different stains.

So far, sweeping robots have developed bionic arm technology. When they identify hard-to-clean corners such as walls, table and chair legs, and bedside, they will use bionic mechanical arms to expand the mop tray and wipe the stains like human hands. It can be seen that sweeping robots are accelerating towards the "moment".

The reason why sweeping robots are becoming more and more user-friendly is inseparable from the research and development and investment of various advanced technologies, including the superposition of.

02What chips are used in a sweeping robot?

A sweeping robot mainly includes a main control chip, sensor chip, chip, WiFi chip, storage chip and vision chip, etc.

Main control chip It is the "brain" of the sweeping robot, responsible for controlling the overall operation and intelligent decision-making of the robot. Specifically, the main control chip receives data from sensors, processes and analyzes the data according to preset programs, and then outputs corresponding control instructions to control the movement and behavior of the robot.

In addition, the main control chip can also make real-time adjustments and optimizations based on the robot's operating status and environmental changes, allowing the robot to better adapt to various complex cleaning tasks.

Sensor chip Used to sense and judge the environment, such as detecting and identifying surrounding objects and environments through laser radar, ultrasound or line. The sensor chip can sense the robot's own status such as power, speed, temperature, as well as obstacles, furniture positions, distances, etc. in the surrounding environment.

After this information is received and processed by the main control chip, it can control the movement and behavior of the robot and realize functions such as autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and cleaning.

Management chip It can manage the charging and discharging of the battery of the sweeping robot, control the battery voltage and, ensure the safety and life of the battery. At the same time, the power management chip can also monitor and protect the power supply of the robot, prevent overcharging, over-discharging, over-current and other problems, and ensure the normal operation of the robot.

In addition, the power management chip can also perform energy-saving control on the robot's power supply, and make real-time adjustments and optimizations according to the robot's operating status and environmental changes, so that the robot can use power more efficiently and extend battery life.

The function of WiFi chip is mainly to achieve connection with mobile phones or other smart devices, so that users can remotely control and monitor. Specifically, the WiFi chip can receive control instructions from the main control chip, send the instructions to the built-in WiFi module, and establish a connection with the mobile phone or other smart device. Users can send control instructions through mobile phones or other smart devices to control the operation and cleaning tasks of the sweeping robot.

At the same time, the WiFi chip can also send data such as the sweeping robot's operating status, power information, fault records, etc. to mobile phones or other smart devices, making it convenient for users to remotely monitor and manage.

Storage chip It is used to record the robot's running trajectory, cleaning path, power information, fault records and other data for subsequent analysis and optimization. At the same time, the storage chip can also store the robot's control program and algorithm to ensure the normal operation of the robot.

Vision chip It can receive image data from the camera, analyze and process the image through built-in algorithms and image processing technology, and extract useful information such as the color, texture of the ground, shape and position of obstacles, etc.

After the information is received and processed by the main control chip, it can control the robot's movement and behavior to achieve more accurate cleaning. At the same time, the visual chip can also help the robot identify different types of floors and stains, automatically adjust the cleaning plan and the amount of detergent used, and improve the cleaning effect and efficiency.

03Who will supply these chips? Main control chip

The common chip type of the main control chip is 32-bit, and some use SOC or chips with higher integration. The common domestic suppliers of main control chips are,, etc., and the main foreign suppliers are,, NXP, etc.

The F series is a chip launched by STMicroelectronics . It has the characteristics of low power consumption, high performance, high reliability, etc., and is widely used in sweeping robots, etc. For example, the Roborock T6 uses the STM32F1 series of ST, a major MCU manufacturer. Within an acceptable cost range, this series of MCUs achieves high performance based on the integration of first-class peripherals and low power consumption and low voltage operation.

Allwinner Technology MR series chips have been widely used in sweeping robots, quadruped robot dogs, etc. The current mainstream and highly competitive MR813 chip is a high-performance SOC, using a 4-core A53 architecture, with a main frequency of up to 1.6GHz, and has a rich audio, video and motion driver interface.

Roborock Technology The robot vacuum cleaner and mop G10S, Dreame S10, Whale 2 Beluga vacuum cleaner and mop robot, and Mijia all-purpose vacuum cleaner and mop robot all use Allwinner Technology's MR813 chip.

Rockchip, also a major chip manufacturer of sweeping robot, has launched four sets of "AI sweeping robot" chip-level solutions - RK3399, RV1108, RK3326 and RK3308, which are also very representative in the field of sweeping robots. Among them, the flagship RK3399 chip adopts AI+VSLAM positioning and navigation technology, RV1108 and RK3326 support VSLAM image vision positioning and navigation technology, and RK3308 can realize mainstream laser navigation technology, helping the industry to efficiently solve product pain points and comprehensively cover sweeping robot products from entry-level to high-end.

Rockchip's products have entered the Ecovacs supply chain system. In recent years, Ecovacs has launched a number of products equipped with RK3188 and RV110X chip solutions.

GigaDevice It has also been involved in the field of sweeping robot chips. For example, Yunmi's 3C series sweeping and mopping robots use GigaDevice's F103VCT6 series main control MCU. Ecovacs DG710, like Yunmi, uses GigaDevice's GD32F103VxT6 series.

Sensor Chip

There are many types of sensor chips, including LiDAR, ultrasonic, infrared, etc. Among them, LiDAR is the most commonly used one, which detects and maps the environment by emitting laser beams, accurately locates and avoids obstacles, thereby ensuring the safety and accuracy of the sweeping robot.

Sensor chips used in sweeping robots include accelerometers, etc. For example, the application of ToF-based OPT3101 in sweeping robots: OPT3101 has strong anti-interference performance and high precision. It is very suitable for realizing autonomous obstacle avoidance function in sweeping robots. Compared with traditional infrared methods, it can realize accurate distance detection, better consistency, and better resistance to light interference.

It is also a company focusing on and mixed signal technology. Its products are often used in sensor chips of sweeping robots, such as 698SQ.

For sweeping robots, China Goodix Technology can provide three solutions: low, medium and high: WALLE64F series, WALLE120F series, WALLE120LB series. The viewing angle of WALLE64F is less than 64%uB0, and the viewing angles of WALLE120F and WALLE120LB are greater than 100%uB0. The WALLE64F and WALLE120F series are mainly obstacle avoidance. The high-end WALLE 120LB series realizes obstacle avoidance and navigation two-in-one functions through a linear array. The combination of 1 sensor + 1 receiver + 2 is more cost-effective.