Claims
- 1. A robot adapted to operate in association with an interface surface having disposed therein or thereon coded data indicative of a plurality of reference points of the interface surface, the robot comprising:
movement means to allow the robot to move over the interface surface; a sensing device which senses at least some of the coded data and generates indicating data indicative of a position of the robot on the interface surface; communication means to transmit the indicating data to a computer system running a computer application, and to receive movement instructions from the computer application; and, a marking device adapted to selectively mark the interface surface in response to marking instructions received from the computer application.
- 2. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the marking device is at least one pen, or the like, attached to or held by the robot.
- 3. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the marking device is at least one printhead attached to or held by the robot.
- 4. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the marking device can be selectively moved into and out of contact with the interface surface.
- 5. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein a characteristic of the marking device is determined by the robot decoding a barcode on the marking device.
- 6. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein a characteristic of the marking device is determined by the robot reading a value from a solid-state memory associated with the marking device.
- 7. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein a characteristic of the marking device is determined by a user activating a hyperlink on the interface surface using the robot.
- 8. The robot as claimed in claim 7, wherein a characteristic of the marking device is the color of the ink in the marking device.
- 9. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the robot can operate in a raster mode or a vector mode.
- 10. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the robot can be remotely controlled by a user.
- 11. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the movement means are electronically driven wheels.
- 12. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the computer application controls the marking device in response to the indicating data received by the computer system.
- 13. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the robot has a unique robot identifier which is adapted to distinguish the robot from other robots.
- 14. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the indicating data is transmitted to the computer system by a wireless signal.
- 15. The robot as claimed in claim 14, wherein the computer system is adapted to receive the indicating data via a relay device in wireless communication with the robot.
- 16. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interface surface is a netpage.
- 17. The robot as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coded data is also indicative of an identity of the interface surface that can be sensed by the sensing device.
- 18. A system for marking an interface surface by controlling a robot provided with means to mark the interface surface, the system comprising:
the interface surface, having disposed therein or thereon coded data indicative of a plurality of reference points of the interface surface, thereby facilitating the robot to operate in association with the interface surface; the robot, provided with movement means to allow the robot to move over the interface surface, and a sensing device which senses at least some of the coded data and generates indicating data indicative of a position of the robot on the interface surface, and a marking device adapted to mark the interface surface; and, a computer system running a computer application, the computer system in communication with the robot, the computer application adapted to receive the indicating data and to transmit movement instructions and marking instructions to the robot.
- 19. A method of marking an interface surface by controlling a mobile robot adapted to mark the interface surface, the robot additionally adapted to operate in association with the interface surface having disposed therein or thereon coded data indicative of a plurality of reference points of the interface surface, the method including the steps of:
the robot sensing at least some of the coded data and generating indicating data indicative of a position of the robot on the interface surface; the robot transmitting the indicating data to a computer system running a computer application; the robot receiving movement instructions from the computer application; and, the robot receiving marking instructions from the computer application to selectively mark the interface surface.
- 20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the robot can mark the interface surface while stationary or moving.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2003900861 |
Feb 2003 |
AU |
|
CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS
[0001] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneously with the present application: NPS045US.
[0002] The disclosure of this co-pending application is incorporated herein by cross-reference. The application is temporarily identified by its docket number. This will be replaced by the corresponding USSN when available.
[0003] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present application:
110/409,87610/409,84810/409,84509/575,19709/575,19509/575,15909/575,13209/575,12309/575,14809/575,13009/575,16509/575,15309/693,41509/575,11809/609,13909/608,97009/575,11609/575,14409/575,13909/575,18609/575,18509/609,03909/663,57909/663,59909/607,85209/575,19109/693,21909/575,14509/607,65609/693,28009/609/13209/693,51509/663,70109/575,19209/663,64009/609,30309/610,09509/609,59609/693,70509/693,64709/721,89509/721,89409/607,84309/693,69009/607,60509/608,17809/609,55309/609,23309/609,14909/608,02209/575,18109/722,17409/721,89610/291,52210/291,51710/291,52310/291,47110/291,47010/291,81910/291,48110/291,50910/291,82510/291,51910/291,57510/291,55710/291,66110/291,55810/291,58710/291,81810/291,57610/291,58910/291,5266,644,5456,609,6536,651,87910/291,55510/291,51019/291,59210/291,54210/291,82010/291,51610/291,36310/291,48710/291,52010/291,52110/291,55610/291,82110/291,52510/291,58610/291,82210/291,52410/291,55310/291,51110/291,58510/291,374NPA125US10/685,583NPA127US10/685,584NPA133US09/575,19309/575,15609/609,23209/607,84409/607,65709/693,593NPB008US09/928,05509/927,68409/928,10809/927,68509/927,80909/575,18309/575,16009/575,15009/575,1696,644,6426,502,6146,622,99909/575,14910/322,4506,549,935NPN004US09/575,18709/575,1556,591,8846,439,70609/575,19609/575,19809/722,14809/722,14609/721,8616,290,3496,428,15509/575,14609/608,92009/721,89209/722,17109/721,85809/722,14210/171,98710/202,02110/291,72410/291,51210/291,55410/659,02710/659,02609/693,30109/575,17409/575,16309/693,21609/693,34109/693,47309/722,08709/722,14109/722,17509/722,14709/575,16809/722,17209/693,51409/721,89309/722,08810/291,57810/291,82310/291,56010/291,36610/291,50310/291,46910/274,81709/575,15409/575,12909/575,12409/575,18809/721,86210/120,44110/291,57710/291,71810/291,71910/291,54310/291,49410/292,60810/291,71510/291,55910/291,66010/409,86410/309,35810/410,484NPW008USNPW009US09/575,18909/575,16209/575,17209/575,17009/575,17109/575,16110/291,71610/291,54710/291,53810/291,71710/291,82710/291,54810/291,71410/291,54410/291,54110/291,58410/291,57910/291,82410/291,71310/291,54510/291,54609/693,38809/693,70409/693,51009/693,33609/693,33510/181,49610/274,19910/309,18510/309,066NPW014USNPS047USNPS048USNPS049USNPS050USNPS051USNPS052USNPS053USNPS054US
[0004] The disclosures of all of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by reference. Some applications are temporarily identified by their docket number. This will be replaced by the corresponding .application number when available.