US Patent 6859682 Pet robot charging system

Image data obtained by image-capturing by a pet robot is stored in a memory, and any of conditions whether the memory capacity is scarce, a captured image transfer instruction is made, or the battery capacity of the pet robot is scarce is satisfied, the pet robot is controlled to move to the charging apparatus. When the pet robot arrives at the charging apparatus, the image data is transferred to the charging apparatus. When the completion of transfer of the image data is detected, the image data already transferred is erased depending upon selection by the user.