Development of a Floor-Mopping Robot

This paper introduces a floor-mopping robot with quadruple mopping pads that does not require mechanisms, such as wheels, since the friction between the floor and the mopping pads provides the driving force. The direction of the friction force can be controlled by adjusting the rotating direction of the pads, which results in the robot offering omnidirectional motion. In this paper, we first propose the structure of the mopping pad by using a sponge; this model is then used to design a new type of mopping robot with quadruple pads. Next, the relationship between the direction of pad rotation and moving motion of the robot is derived. Finally, the motions of the robot are realized using the obtained relationship. Finally, we propose a novel cleaning method using rotating pads where the robot stays in the same place.