OVERVIEW

Your Sensor Challenges: Solved

Your vision for the best next-gen robotic cleaner is clear. But what about the roadmap to get you there? Will technical challenges distract your team and slow your time to market?

Your products simplify lives, automating tasks so your customers can do more important things. Hillcrest Labs does the same for you. Sensors and sensor fusion are our specialty. We can give you a jump on your time to market while letting you focus where you can add the most value to your robotics products. We’ve spent the last 15 years completely focused on sensor innovation, and with over 100 million sensor products shipped, we’re confident in saying we’ve already solved that critical piece of your product design.

 

Better Dynamic Heading for a Smarter Robot Experience

We’ve developed high-accuracy, multi-axis sensor products for robotic cleaners. Common single-axis alternatives result in robots drifting off course and losing directional context.

Our multi-axis IMU delivers better performance while reducing development time and BOM complexity. By addressing sensor anomalies and perfecting our proprietary algorithms through exhaustive testing, our motion sensors provide more accurate dynamic heading, delivering more precise real-world positioning, which leads to better navigation. The result is fewer corners are missed, robots get stuck less often, and there is lower battery usage. Your customers will end up with a better user experience because their floors will be clean and the robot will do its job without intervention.

 

Go Beyond Heading to Unlock Product Innovation

Most robotic cleaners use single-axis gyroscopes that miss critical real-world inputs such as inclines or elevation differences at floor transitions. This leads to robots that get stuck on obstacles or drift off course when encountering uneven surfaces.

By adding multiple measurement axes, you can precisely determine the tilt of the robot, both pitch and roll. Additional axes provide more context to the system, enhancing robot decision making. With multi-axis data, your robots will navigate smoothly across uneven surfaces or around obstacles while maintaining consistent heading.

 

Your Partner for Robot Sensors

Our portfolio, including software, chip level, and module level products, can be configured to the needs of your specific application. Whether you are designing a robot cleaner that relies mainly on an IMU for navigation or leverages an IMU to complement a LiDAR or Visual SLAM system or an optical sensor (e.g. “optical flow”), Hillcrest Labs’ products can help you meet your requirements. You’ll deliver your unique product features to the market quickly, while minimizing sensor deployment risks.

Unlocking the Robotic Cleaner of Tomorrow
Adapting your products to customer needs is critical, and robotic vacuum cleaners have made serious headway in recent years when it comes to improving the user experience. But challenges still exist: robots that get stuck on chair legs, lost in corners, or take inefficient routes, all of which lengthen cleaning times and drive up battery consumption (driving down user satisfaction).
Motion sensors play a key role in improving robotic vacuum cleaner performance. Read our Ebook, “Unlocking the Robotic Cleaner of Tomorrow” to learn:
  • The top challenges that persist in the robotic vacuum industry
  • A few key trends shaping the market
  • How to choose the right sensor set (to mag, or not to mag…?)
  • How sensor fusion ensures peak performance