Patents by Inventor Takashi Kodachi

Takashi Kodachi 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).

  • Publication number: 20210137342
    Abstract: Provided is a self-propelled vacuum configured so that obstacle avoidance operation can be efficiently performed and cleaning time can be shortened. A self-propelled vacuum 1 includes a laser range finder (LRF) 20 configured to sense the periphery of a vacuum body 2, and an up-down drive unit 22 configured to move the LRF 20 up and down between a protrusion position above the vacuum body 2 and a housing position in the vacuum body 2. The up-down drive unit 22 is driven to move the LRF 20 up and down.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Publication date: May 13, 2021
    Inventors: Takayuki FURUTA, Masahiro TOMONO, Hideaki YAMATO, Tomoaki YOSHIDA, Masaharu SHIMIZU, Yu OKUMURA, Kengo TODA, Takashi KODACHI, Kiyoshi IRIE, Yoshitaka HARA, Kazuki OGIHARA
  • Publication number: 20200405110
    Abstract: An autonomous vacuum cleaner is provided which can clean efficiently around a vacuum cleaner body. An autonomous vacuum cleaner (1) includes a vacuum cleaner body (2) having a wheel (121) for travelling autonomously, a surroundings sensor (32) for detecting an obstacle around the vacuum cleaner body (2), a pivoting cleaner (3) that can clean around the vacuum cleaner body (2), and a controller (5) that controls the surroundings sensor (32) and the pivoting cleaner (3). The pivoting cleaner (3) includes an arm (21) that protrudes outward from the vacuum cleaner body (2), a motor (22) that drives the arm (21), and a load sensor (23) that detects a load acting on the arm (21) from the outside. The motor (22) is controlled and driven on the basis of the presence or absence of an obstacle detected by the surroundings sensor (32), and travel of the vacuum cleaner body (2) is controlled on the basis of a load detected by the load sensor (23).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2017
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Inventors: Takayuki FURUTA, Masahiro TOMONO, Hideaki YAMATO, Tomoaki YOSHIDA, Masaharu SHIMIZU, Yu OKUMURA, Kengo TODA, Takashi KODACHI, Kiyoshi IRIE, Yoshitaka HARA, Kazuki OGIHARA
  • Publication number: 20200405115
    Abstract: An autonomous vacuum cleaner is provided which can promote reductions in size and load by simplifying the structure of a surrounding cleaning means. An autonomous vacuum cleaner (1) includes a vacuum cleaner body (2) having a wheel (121) for travelling autonomously, and a pivoting cleaner (3) that can vacuum and clean around the vacuum cleaner body (2). The pivoting cleaner (3) is configured including: an arm (21) that can pivot outward from the vacuum cleaner body (2); a vacuum inlet (74) that is provided to the arm (21) to suck up dirt and the like on the floor surface; a rotation support (61, 144) configured to rotatably support the arm (21) on the vacuum cleaner body (2); and a vacuum channel (66) that is provided along a rotation axis of the rotation support (61, 144) to cause the inside of the arm (21) and a sub-duct (143) to communicate with each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2017
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Inventors: Takayuki FURUTA, Masahiro TOMONO, Hideaki YAMATO, Tomoaki YOSHIDA, Masaharu SHIMIZU, Yu OKUMURA, Kengo TODA, Takashi KODACHI, Kiyoshi IRIE, Yoshitaka HARA, Kazuki OGIHARA
  • Publication number: 20200345191
    Abstract: An autonomous vacuum cleaner is provided which allows a user to check the operating state of a vacuum cleaner body and a map to be created, and can increase cleaning efficiency. An autonomous vacuum cleaner (1) includes a vacuum cleaner body (2) and a mobile terminal (6). Whenever the vacuum cleaner body 2 acquires surrounding information and location information while travelling autonomously, a map creator (471) creates a map of a cleaning target space including the vacuum cleaner body (2) in real time, and a map display (61) of the mobile terminal (6) displays the map.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2017
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Inventors: Takayuki FURUTA, Masahiro TOMONO, Hideaki YAMATO, Tomoaki YOSHIDA, Masaharu SHIMIZU, Yu OKUMURA, Kengo TODA, Takashi KODACHI, Kiyoshi IRIE, Yoshitaka HARA, Kazuki OGIHARA
  • Publication number: 20200275815
    Abstract: An autonomous vacuum cleaner that can reduce the footprint in a standby state is provided. An autonomous vacuum cleaner (1) includes a vacuum cleaner body (2) and a charging station (6). The charging station (6) has a hook (64) that latches a latched member (16) provided to a rear side of the vacuum cleaner body (2), and a lift driver (61) that raises and lowers the hook (64), and is configured to be capable of storing the vacuum cleaner body (2) in a standing state where the vacuum cleaner body (2) is hoisted and the rear side is oriented upward.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Publication date: September 3, 2020
    Inventors: Takayuki FURUTA, Masahiro TOMONO, Hideaki YAMATO, Tomoaki YOSHIDA, Masaharu SHIMIZU, Yu OKUMURA, Kengo TODA, Takashi KODACHI, Kiyoshi IRIE, Yoshitaka HARA, Kazuki OGIHARA
  • Publication number: 20200245837
    Abstract: An autonomous vacuum cleaner is provided which can accurately acquire surrounding information related to target objects in the surroundings. An autonomous vacuum cleaner (1) includes: a vacuum cleaner body (2); a front sensor (31) configured to detect a target object at a far distance from the vacuum cleaner body (2); and a contact sensor (32) configured to detect a target object at a near distance from the vacuum cleaner body (2). A controller (5) is configured including a surrounding information generator (45) configured to generate surrounding information related to target objects around the vacuum cleaner body (2), on the basis of far information detected by the front sensor (31) and near information detected by the contact sensor (32).
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2017
    Publication date: August 6, 2020
    Inventors: Takayuki FURUTA, Masahiro TOMONO, Hideaki YAMATO, Tomoaki YOSHIDA, Masaharu SHIMIZU, Yu OKUMURA, Kengo TODA, Takashi KODACHI, Kiyoshi IRIE, Yoshitaka HARA, Kazuki OGIHARA
  • Publication number: 20200089249
    Abstract: Provided is a self-propelled vacuum configured so that depending on an obstacle, the self-propelled vacuum can move over the obstacle without performing avoidance operation to shorten cleaning time. A self-propelled vacuum 1 includes a vacuum body 2, a suction unit 5 for sucking dust and the like on a floor surface F, a traveling drive unit 4 configured to drive wheels 21, a front sensor 51 configured to sense an obstacle S in the front in a traveling direction, and a vehicle height adjustment unit 6 configured to move the wheels 21 up and down to adjust the vehicle height of the vacuum body 2. In a case where the traveling drive unit 4 is driven and the front sensor 51 senses the obstacle S during self-propelling, the vehicle height adjustment unit 6 increases the vehicle height to a predetermined height, and thereafter, the self-propelled vacuum 1 moves over the obstacle S while the vehicle height is being adjusted such that a distance to the obstacle S is held within a predetermined range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Publication date: March 19, 2020
    Inventors: Takayuki FURUTA, Masahiro TOMONO, Hideaki YAMATO, Tomoaki YOSHIDA, Masaharu SHIMIZU, Yu OKUMURA, Kengo TODA, Takashi KODACHI, Kiyoshi IRIE, Yoshitaka HARA, Kazuki OGIHARA
  • Patent number: 9636265
    Abstract: A single passenger carrying mobile robot, includes a single operated member that is operated by a passenger to instruct both a moving direction and a moving speed of the passenger carrying mobile robot, a moving member configured to move the passenger carrying mobile robot and a controller configured to control the moving member based on input information input to the operated member by the passenger, wherein the passenger carrying mobile robot further includes a sensor that acquires obstacle information of a surrounding of the passenger carrying mobile robot, and the controller predicts an expected course of the passenger carrying mobile robot based on the input information and determines based on the obstacle information whether or not an obstacle is located in the expected course, and changes a control of the moving member when determining that the obstacle is located.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignees: Chiba Institute Of Technology, Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takayuki Furuta, Masaharu Shimizu, Hideaki Yamato, Kengo Toda, Takashi Kodachi, Mitsuhiro Ando, Noboru Nagamine, Seongjun Yang, Hirotoshi Ochiai, Wataru Takayanagi
  • Publication number: 20150245962
    Abstract: A single passenger carrying mobile robot, includes a single operated member that is operated by a passenger to instruct both a moving direction and a moving speed of the passenger carrying mobile robot, a moving member configured to move the passenger carrying mobile robot and a controller configured to control the moving member based on input information input to the operated member by the passenger, wherein the passenger carrying mobile robot further includes a sensor that acquires obstacle information of a surrounding of the passenger carrying mobile robot, and the controller predicts an expected course of the passenger carrying mobile robot based on the input information and determines based on the obstacle information whether or not an obstacle is located in the expected course, and changes a control of the moving member when determining that the obstacle is located.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2015
    Publication date: September 3, 2015
    Inventors: Takayuki Furuta, Masaharu Shimizu, Hideaki Yamato, Kengo Toda, Takashi Kodachi, Mitsuhiro Ando, Noboru Nagamine, Seongjun Yang, Hirotoshi Ochiai, Wataru Takayanagi