Service robots play an increasingly vital role in society, from transportation and warehouse logistics to home entertainment and security. Regardless of their application, they need to sense changes in their surroundings in real-time to ensure safety while providing a positive user experience. To illustrate how various sensor technologies from TDK’s SmartSensor family can be applied in service robots, this article focuses on a robotic vacuum cleaner (RVC).
Early versions of robotic vacuums had very little intelligence, randomly bumping their way around the home and sometimes missing areas as they did not know where they had been. Often, they would unwittingly become trapped or run out of charge mid-sweep. And, as their dust box is comparatively small to a regular vacuum cleaner, if full, they could be sweeping but not collecting anything up. Over the years, with the innovative use of sensors and motor controllers, vacuum cleaning robots have become much smarter, overcoming these issues.

The TDK Robokit1 combines sensors, processors, and actuators on a single board, making it an ideal robotics platform for quick prototyping and development. RoboKit1 integrates key product offerings such as 6-axis IMU, industrial IMU modules, capacitive barometric pressure sensor, digital I²S microphone, temp sensor, ultrasonic Time of Flight (ToF) sensors, magnetometer, and motor controller on a single PCB.
It also comes equipped with ARM® Cortex®-M7, multiple interfaces, and is compatible with multiple processor platforms such as Raspberry Pi and ASUS Tinker Board. RoboKit1 is not just another dev board—it is the comprehensive TDK solution showcase!

Service robots are widely used in various situations such as logistics / transport, security, cleaning, housework, hobbies / entertainment and care / assistance. Since service robots are used in a wide variety of situations, it is necessary to fulfil many requirements such as smooth communication with humans (HMI), ensuring safety and responding to changes in the real time. In service robots, the role of a sensor is very important. In this article, we will take a vacuum cleaner robots as an example.

Der HVC 4420F ist für den Antrieb kleiner Bürstenmotoren, Schrittmotoren oder bürstenloser Motoren konzipiert. Der HVC 4420F erfüllt die neuesten Anforderungen der Automobilindustrie an Diagnosefunktionen, die nun auch im Bereich der intelligenten Aktuatoren eingeführt worden sind. Diese Produkbeschreibung erklärt die Funktionsweise des Bauelements und bietet nützliche Informationen für unsere Kunden bezüglich der Fähigkeiten des embedded Motor-Controllers HVC 4420F von TDK.