Patents Examined by Khoi H. Tran
  • Patent number: 11975709
    Abstract: A vehicle parking control device has a processor and a memory to control the vehicle from a starting to a target parking position. The vehicle control device includes an obstacle detection unit detecting obstacles around the vehicle, a travelable area setting unit setting an area where the vehicle can travel based on a position of the obstacles, and sets the target parking position in the travelable area, a route generation unit calculating a travel route to the target parking position in the travelable area, and a parking execution unit that causes the vehicle to travel toward the target parking position on the basis of the travel route. The route generation unit generates a route from a parking start position to the target parking position, and corrects a distance of the section to a predetermined distance when the distance of the section is less than the predetermined distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Naoyuki Tashiro, Masashi Seimiya, Satoshi Matsuda, Masato Imai
  • Patent number: 11977188
    Abstract: A method for calibrating a vehicle sensor of a motor vehicle. The method includes the steps: ascertaining, by way of the vehicle sensor, sensor data at a plurality of measurement times, the motor vehicle moving in relation to objects in surroundings of the motor vehicle; computing object positions of the objects on the basis of the ascertained sensor data; computing a Hough transformation on the basis of the computed object positions; ascertaining an alignment of the vehicle sensor in relation to a driving axis of the motor vehicle on the basis of the computed Hough transformation; and calibrating the vehicle sensor on the basis of the ascertained alignment of the vehicle sensor in relation to the driving axis of the motor vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: David Ziegler, Stephan Dorenkamp
  • Patent number: 11969887
    Abstract: The traveling unit main body and the accommodation unit are adapted to be uncoupled and re-coupled. The traveling unit main body includes a first driving unit and a second driving unit configured to perform at least one of operations of taking out or storing the article from or in the accommodation unit and transporting the article taken out from the accommodation unit. The traveling unit main body performs at least one of the operations of taking out, storing, and transporting the article using the first driving unit and the second driving unit in a state in which the traveling unit main body and the accommodation unit are uncoupled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Nobuhisa Otsuki, Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura, Yutaro Takagi
  • Patent number: 11969751
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a method and system by which a precise amount of a viscous fluid sealing compound can be dispensed at required locations through computer vision-based observation of the fluid deposited, its rate and amount of deposition and location; and that the dispensed fluid may be accurately shaped through robotic or other special purpose mechanism motion. The invention enables instant quality inspection of the dispensing process in terms of the locations, amounts and shapes of newly created seals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: MACDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES INC.
    Inventors: Limin Shang, Adam Neil Philip, Piotr Jasiobedzki, Mark Patrick Barnet, Timothy Reedman
  • Patent number: 11969899
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for generating a novel impedance configuration for a three-degree-of-freedom (3DOF) leg of a hydraulically-driven legged robot. The method includes: separately determining variations of input signals of an inner position-based control loop and an inner force-based control loop of a hydraulic drive unit of each joint based on an obtained mathematical model; generating a novel impedance configuration in which position-based control is performed on a hydraulic drive unit of a hip joint, and force-based control is performed on hydraulic drive units of a knee joint and an ankle joint in a hydraulic drive system of the leg of a to-be-controlled robot; and performing forward calculation by using the leg mathematical model, to obtain an actual position and a force variation of the foot of the leg of the to-be-controlled robot to control motion of the foot of the to-be-controlled robot within motion space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: Yanshan University
    Inventors: Kaixian Ba, Yanhe Song, Huashun Li, Bin Yu, Guoliang Ma, Yuan Wang, Xiangdong Kong
  • Patent number: 11968917
    Abstract: A working vehicle includes a traveling vehicle to travel on a scheduled traveling route and including a connector to which a towed vehicle is connected, and an autonomous traveling controller to control autonomous traveling of the traveling vehicle based on the scheduled traveling route and a relative angle between the connector of the traveling vehicle and the towed vehicle connected to the connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: KUBOTA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Toshiaki Kurogi
  • Patent number: 11969906
    Abstract: A collaborative robot system having high safety when executing tasks in collaboration with operators and which can be finely adjusted at a site is achieved. A collaborative robot system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is assembled by an operator for executing a task in collaboration with the operator. The collaborative robot system includes a driving unit, an operation unit configured to operate by a driving force of the driving unit to execute the task, a control unit configured to control the driving unit, a program executed by the control unit, a safety securing unit including a cover covering the operation unit or a sensor configured to detect contact of the operator with the operation unit, and an interface, an input apparatus of the operator being connected to the interface in order to modify the program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Satoru Ohno
  • Patent number: 11969905
    Abstract: A control method for a robot performing a task on a workpiece conveyed by a belt conveyor having a moving belt is provided. The control method includes: causing a first image pickup device to detect an inclination between a first direction serving as a reference for traveling of the belt and a direction in which the belt is traveling, and a first distance that is a distance between the belt and a first reference position in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction at the first reference position; calculating a position of the workpiece as of when the workpiece is moved by the belt conveyor from a first position to a second position away from the first position by a second distance in the first direction, based on the inclination and the first distance detected by the first image pickup unit; and causing the robot to perform a task on the workpiece at the second position that is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masato Yokota
  • Patent number: 11970157
    Abstract: An automotive electronic dynamics control system for a motor-vehicle equipped with and automotive automated driving system designed to cause the motor-vehicle to perform low-speed manoeuvres in automated driving. The automotive automated driving system comprises an automotive sensory system designed to detect motor-vehicle-related quantities, and automotive actuators comprising an Electric Power Steering, a Braking System, and a Powertrain. The electronic dynamics control system is designed to implement a Driving Path Planner designed to: receive data representative of static obstacles in the surroundings of the motor-vehicle and representing static space constraints to the motion of the motor-vehicle, and compute, based on the received data, a planned driving path for the motor-vehicle during a low-speed manoeuvre performed in automated driving.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: C.R.F. SOCIETA' CONSORTILE PER AZIONI
    Inventors: Giulio Borrello, Enrico Raffone, Claudio Rei, Massimo Fossanetti
  • Patent number: 11964402
    Abstract: In a robot control system, the operation of a mobile robot that moves autonomously inside a facility is controlled based at least on an image captured by a photographing device that photographs a blind area located at a blind angle to the mobile robot. When entry of the mobile robot into a predetermined area corresponding to the blind area is detected, the amount of information obtainable from an image captured by the photographing device is increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shiro Oda, Tetsuya Taira, Satoshi Toyoshima, Yuta Watanabe, Takeshi Matsui, Takayoshi Nasu, Kei Yoshikawa, Yusuke Ota, Yutaro Ishida, Yuji Onuma, Kyosuke Arai
  • Patent number: 11964669
    Abstract: Provided are autonomous vehicles and methods of controlling autonomous vehicles through topological planning with bounds, including receiving map data and sensor data, expanding a topological tree by adding a plurality of nodes to represent a plurality of actions associated with the plurality of constraints, generating a bound based on a constraint in the geographic area, the bound associated with an action for navigating the autonomous vehicle relative to the at least one constraint, storing the bound in a central bound storage, linking a set of bounds of a tree node to the bound via a bound identifier, wherein the first bound is initially linked as an active bound, or alternatively, as an inactive bound after determining it is not the most restrictive bound at any sample index, and control the autonomous vehicle based on the topological tree, to navigate the plurality of constraints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Argo AI, LLC
    Inventors: Neal Andrew Seegmiller, Patrick Stirling Barone, Arek Viko Sredzki
  • Patent number: 11958182
    Abstract: A mobile body system for managing a mobile body that moves within a predetermined area includes a mobile body associated with a guest group including one or more guests, and a managing apparatus configured to manage an outer appearance of the mobile body. The managing apparatus includes an activity collector configured to collect activity information indicative of an activity of the guest within the predetermined area, and an outer appearance manager configured to change the outer appearance of the mobile body viewed by the guest based on the activity information collected by the activity collector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Mutsumi Kawashima, Tomoaki Miyazawa, Masato Noritake, Nobuhiro Nishikawa, Masato Kurima, Tokuyuki Nishikawa, Reiko Tomita, Takaaki Kato, Hiroyuki Tomita, Daisaku Kato
  • Patent number: 11957301
    Abstract: Methods of assisting an operator to perform a surgical procedure include inserting at least one surgical tool into a surgical environment of a human body. The 3D spatial position of the surgical tool within the surgical environment is estimated in real time, and movement of the surgical tool is detected. The spatial position of the surgical tool within the surgical environment is controlled using a controller, including by determining using image processing whether each of the detected movements is an ALLOWED movement or a RESTRICTED movement based on a predetermined rule stored in a database in communication with the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Asensus Surgical Europe S.à.R.L.
    Inventors: Motti Frimer, Mordehai Sholev, Yehuda Pfeffer
  • Patent number: 11958485
    Abstract: A control system (1) for controlling operation of a host vehicle (2). The control system (1) includes a controller (4) having a processor (5) and a memory (6). The processor (5) is operable to receive a signal (S1) from a sensor (7) and to process the signal (S1) to identify a target vehicle (3). The processor (5) determines a vertical offset (?V) between the host vehicle (2) and the target vehicle (3). A target follow distance (D1) may be set based on the determined vertical offset (?V). Also provided is a vehicle (1) incorporating the control system (1); a related method of controlling a vehicle (2); and a non-transitory computer-readable medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Jaguar Land Rover Limited
    Inventors: Navid Shamshiri, Arun Raveendran, Robin Boyd
  • Patent number: 11951629
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods for cost evaluation and motion planning for robotic devices are disclosed herein. According to at least one non-limiting exemplary embodiment, a method for producing and evaluating a continuous and differentiable total cost as a function of all available motion commands is disclosed and may be utilized in conjunction with a gradient descent to determine a minimum cost motion command corresponding to an optimal motion for a robotic device to execute in accordance with a target trajectory and obstacle avoidance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Brain Corporation
    Inventors: Oleg Sinyavskiy, Mark Ma, Tiger Lin
  • Patent number: 11951636
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the technology described herein generally relate to robotic systems for interacting with objects in a warehouse environment. More specifically, certain embodiments relate to systems and methods for collecting data related to robotic picking of objects through test interactions. In some embodiments, a robotic device may work in collaboration with a computer vision system for collecting data related to new objects in a warehouse, commercial, industrial, or similar environment. A robotic picking system may operate in a data collection mode during which objects are sent to a robotic picking device for data collection during one or more test interactions or test stimuli. The test interactions and stimuli may be used to produce a whitelist of objects that the robotic picking device may attempt to pick up during regular operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Embodied Intelligence Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Vaziri, Mostafa Rohaninejad
  • Patent number: 11946231
    Abstract: An improved system and method for controlling turf grading equipment is described. The system comprises a turf grading device wherein the turf grading device is moved longitudinally over an area and the turf grading device comprises a left side and a right side with each side being able to independently move vertically and in concert provide a motion of pitch and yaw. The system includes a control system wherein the control system controls movement of the left side and the right side independently. The control system comprises a controller interface capable of selecting between a manual override mode and a module selection mode wherein the module selection mode selected from a grade adjust laser mode, a grade adjust autograde mode, a grade adjust autodepth mode and a grade adjust slope mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: G2 Turftools, Inc.
    Inventor: Eric L. Merkt
  • Patent number: 11945115
    Abstract: An action of a robot included in a robot system is controlled based on a learning result of a machine learning device. The machine learning device includes a behavior observing unit, a displaced amount observing unit, and a learning unit. The behavior observing unit observes a behavior pattern of the robot picking out a workpiece from a container. The displaced amount observing unit observes, based on pieces of image data captured before and after the pick-out action of the robot and output from an image capturing device, a workpiece displaced amount indicating a displaced amount of an untargeted workpiece in the container caused by picking out a targeted workpiece from the container. The learning unit learns an influence rate on the untargeted workpiece with an associated behavior pattern of the robot for picking out the targeted workpiece from the container, the influence rate depending on the workpiece displaced amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kunimune Komaike
  • Patent number: 11945463
    Abstract: A starting point, a set of one or more way points, and a destination point of a route along which the ADV is to be driven are determined. All lane segments near the starting point, the set of way points, and the destination point within a predetermined threshold distance are determined respectively. A set of route candidates are determined with an A-star (A*) searching algorithm based on a set of nodes representing all the lane segments near the starting point, the set of way points, and the destination point respectively. The route is selected from the set of route candidates based on respective costs of the set of route candidates. The ADV is being controlled to drive along the selected route autonomously.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignees: BAIDU USA LLC, BAIDU.COM TIMES TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ning Yu, Fan Zhu
  • Patent number: 11940170
    Abstract: [Object] To provide a control system, a control method, and a storage medium through which a moving object can change a surrounding environment of a user depending on an emotion of the user. [Solution] Provided is a control system including: an estimation unit that estimates an emotion of a user; and a moving object controller that controls a moving object to change a surrounding environment of the user depending on the estimated emotion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Atsushi Shionozaki, Satoshi Ikeda, Tetsuo Tawara, Yasushi Miyajima