Patents by Inventor Dan Foran

Dan Foran has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Autonomous floor cleaning with a removable pad
    Patent number: 11957286
    Abstract: An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a robot body defining a forward drive direction, a controller supported by the robot body, a drive supporting the robot body and configured to maneuver the robot across a surface in response to commands from the controller, a pad holder disposed on an underside of the robot body and configured to retain a removable cleaning pad during operation of the cleaning robot; and a pad sensor arranged to sense a feature of a cleaning pad held by the pad holder and generate a corresponding signal. The controller is responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, and configured to control the robot according to a cleaning mode selected from a set of multiple robot cleaning modes as a function of the signal generated by the pad sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: iRobot Corporation
    Inventors: Ping-Hong Lu, Dan Foran, Marcus Williams, Joe Johnson, Andrew Graziani
  • Autonomous floor cleaning with a removable pad
    Patent number: 11324376
    Abstract: An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a robot body defining a forward drive direction, a controller supported by the robot body, a drive supporting the robot body and configured to maneuver the robot across a surface in response to commands from the controller, a pad holder disposed on an underside of the robot body and configured to retain a removable cleaning pad during operation of the cleaning robot; and a pad sensor arranged to sense a feature of a cleaning pad held by the pad holder and generate a corresponding signal. The controller is responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, and configured to control the robot according to a cleaning mode selected from a set of multiple robot cleaning modes as a function of the signal generated by the pad sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: iRobot Corporation
    Inventors: Ping-Hong Lu, Dan Foran, Marcus Williams, Joe Johnson, Andrew Graziani
  • AUTONOMOUS FLOOR CLEANING WITH A REMOVABLE PAD
    Publication number: 20200060500
    Abstract: An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a robot body defining a forward drive direction, a controller supported by the robot body, a drive supporting the robot body and configured to maneuver the robot across a surface in response to commands from the controller, a pad holder disposed on an underside of the robot body and configured to retain a removable cleaning pad during operation of the cleaning robot; and a pad sensor arranged to sense a feature of a cleaning pad held by the pad holder and generate a corresponding signal. The controller is responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, and configured to control the robot according to a cleaning mode selected from a set of multiple robot cleaning modes as a function of the signal generated by the pad sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2019
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Inventors: Ping-Hong Lu, Dan Foran, Marcus Williams, Joe Johnson, Andrew Graziani
  • Autonomous floor cleaning with a removable pad
    Patent number: 10499783
    Abstract: An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a robot body defining a forward drive direction, a controller supported by the robot body, a drive supporting the robot body and configured to maneuver the robot across a surface in response to commands from the controller, a pad holder disposed on an underside of the robot body and configured to retain a removable cleaning pad during operation of the cleaning robot; and a pad sensor arranged to sense a feature of a cleaning pad held by the pad holder and generate a corresponding signal. The controller is responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, and configured to control the robot according to a cleaning mode selected from a set of multiple robot cleaning modes as a function of the signal generated by the pad sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: iRobot Corporation
    Inventors: Ping-Hong Lu, Dan Foran, Marcus Williams, Joe Johnson, Andrew Graziani
  • AUTONOMOUS FLOOR CLEANING WITH A REMOVABLE PAD
    Publication number: 20180064305
    Abstract: An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a robot body defining a forward drive direction, a controller supported by the robot body, a drive supporting the robot body and configured to maneuver the robot across a surface in response to commands from the controller, a pad holder disposed on an underside of the robot body and configured to retain a removable cleaning pad during operation of the cleaning robot; and a pad sensor arranged to sense a feature of a cleaning pad held by the pad holder and generate a corresponding signal. The controller is responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, and configured to control the robot according to a cleaning mode selected from a set of multiple robot cleaning modes as a function of the signal generated by the pad sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Inventors: Ping-Hong Lu, Dan Foran, Marcus Williams, Joe Johnson, Andrew Graziani
  • Autonomous floor cleaning with a removable pad
    Patent number: 9907449
    Abstract: An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a robot body defining a forward drive direction, a controller supported by the robot body, a drive supporting the robot body and configured to maneuver the robot across a surface in response to commands from the controller, a pad holder disposed on an underside of the robot body and configured to retain a removable cleaning pad during operation of the cleaning robot; and a pad sensor arranged to sense a feature of a cleaning pad held by the pad holder and generate a corresponding signal. The controller is responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, and configured to control the robot according to a cleaning mode selected from a set of multiple robot cleaning modes as a function of the signal generated by the pad sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: iRobot Corporation
    Inventors: Ping-Hong Lu, Dan Foran, Marcus Williams, Joe Johnson, Andrew Graziani
  • AUTONOMOUS FLOOR CLEANING WITH A REMOVABLE PAD
    Publication number: 20160270618
    Abstract: An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a robot body defining a forward drive direction, a controller supported by the robot body, a drive supporting the robot body and configured to maneuver the robot across a surface in response to commands from the controller, a pad holder disposed on an underside of the robot body and configured to retain a removable cleaning pad during operation of the cleaning robot; and a pad sensor arranged to sense a feature of a cleaning pad held by the pad holder and generate a corresponding signal. The controller is responsive to the signal generated by the pad sensor, and configured to control the robot according to a cleaning mode selected from a set of multiple robot cleaning modes as a function of the signal generated by the pad sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Publication date: September 22, 2016
    Inventors: Ping-Hong Lu, Dan Foran, Marcus Williams, Joe Johnson, Andrew Graziani