Smart Air Purification and Humidification by a Mobile Robot toward a Smart Home

Abstract

Air purifiers and humidifiers, the popular home appliances, have a large working space by injecting and controlling air, which spreads over a house. The air circulation inside a room limits the efficiency of air purification, the disparities of which vary with environmental factors, such as room shape, temperature, furniture arrangements, and human movement. In this study, mobility provided by mobile robot technology is combined with a conventional air purification function. This robotic appliance can improve air purification efficiency, which depends on the air injections and filtration. In our experiments, the effectiveness of the mobility is verified and the commercial growth potential, as a new type of smart home service robot is discussed.