Battery technology

We know that good battery life is key to enjoying usage of a robot like Aido. No one likes a robot that quickly runs out of power.

Aido has a unique dual-battery design – half lead-acid and half nickel-cadmium, to balance the two requirements of a battery for a device like this – a) it should charge fast and b) it should retain power over long periods of time.

Both battery packs are in hot standby mode. Aido also has a patent-pending power management board that optimizes power consumption.

Aido’s battery should last about 8 hours on regular usage, including 2 hours of mobility.

Aido comes with an optional smart charging dock so that you don’t have to remember to charge it

Aido’s smart dock

When Aido runs low on charge, Aido can automatically detect the charging dock and plug itself in.

Docking Aido

Docking Aido isn’t easy, and our team had to work through multiple challenges to get this to work well. Our patent pending approach involves three phases to dock Aido:

• Initial ranging is done based on Wi-Fi signal strength tracking and object recognition
• Once Aido reaches the room where the smart dock is, he tracks IR beacons from the smart dock. When the IR beacons are locked, they guide Aido towards the smart dock.
• The smart dock also has a small laser diode. Closer to the dock, Aido tries locking into this signal. This helps Aido judge the orientation and entry into the dock

Charging Aido

• Aido’s dock has a specially designed set of two charging rings, one of positive polarity and the other negative
• The charging rings are designed in a semi-circular fashion to increase probability of touching Aido’s charging circuits, no matter how Aido rolls into the dock
• The charging rings have special circuitry to prevent a short circuit in case it encounters a foreign object
• Once Aido rolls into the dock, the charging rings are activated and drive charge to Aido.