Abstract: In an example, a power source for an electric propulsion system of an aerial vehicle includes a body having an electrical energy storage device configured to store electrical energy. The power source also includes a plurality of terminals coupled to the electrical energy storage device for supplying the electrical energy from the electrical energy storage device to the electric propulsion system of the aerial vehicle. The power source further includes a plurality of flight control surfaces extending outwardly from the body. The flight control surfaces are actuatable to adjust a flight attitude of the power source. Additionally, the power source includes a flight control system including a processor and configured to actuate the plurality of flight control surfaces to fly the power source to a target location when the power source is jettisoned from the aerial vehicle.

Abstract: A method for monitoring the health of propellers in an aircraft is provided. The method includes receiving a first propeller pitch angle of a first propeller of an aircraft; calculating a first residual pitch angle which is the difference between the first propeller pitch angle and a second propeller pitch angle; and comparing the first residual pitch angle to at least one threshold. The at least one threshold may include upper and lower thresholds. It is established that the health of the propeller may be impaired if the residual pitch angle is outside the at least one threshold, for example it exceeds the upper threshold or is below the lower threshold. If it is established that the health of the propeller may be impaired, an alert is made for inspection and maintenance to take place.

Abstract: Navigation systems and methods are provided. A classifier is configured to transform a received image of a terrain into a classified image in which patches of pixels from the received image are represented as being in one of a specified number of material classes, each associated with respective terrain parameters. A physical traversability module is configured to determine, for the material parameters, a terrain topography and given vehicle parameters, a degree of traversability of the vehicle through the terrain as represented by the received image, to yield a traversability map. A routing module is configured to derive traversability measure(s) for route(s) through the classified image and with respect to the traversability map, between a given origin and a given destination or within a region with respect to a user-defined mission. A graphical user interface is configured to display the route(s) according to the traversability measure(s).

Abstract: A driving system for a vehicle includes: an input unit configured to receive user input from a user; an interface configured to acquire vehicle driving information and to acquire information from one or more devices provided in the vehicle; at least one processor; and a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations including: acquiring information from the one or more devices; determining that the vehicle is to be autonomously driven in absence of a set destination; determining at least one of a first time period or a first distance based on the acquired information; identifying a first area based on at least one of the first time period or the first distance; and providing a control signal configured to autonomously drive the vehicle within the first area.

Abstract: A method to control a velocity of a vehicle includes: extracting an end point of a road region from an input image; measuring a visibility distance between an end point location corresponding to the end point and a location of a vehicle; and controlling the velocity of the vehicle based on the measured visibility distance.

Abstract: A trajectory for an autonomous vehicle (AV) can be generated using curvature segments. A decision planner component can receive a reference trajectory for the AV to follow in an environment. A number of subdivisions (frames) of the reference trajectory may be associated with a curvature value and a tangent vector. Starting with an initial position of the AV, a candidate trajectory can be determined by continuously intersecting a segment with an origin at the initial position of the AV and a reference line associated with a particular frame. The reference line can be substantially perpendicular to the tangent vector of the particular frame. A location of the intersection between the segment and the reference line can be based on a curvature value of the segment. Optimizing a candidate trajectory can include varying curvature values associated with various segments and determining costs of the various candidate trajectories.

Abstract: Techniques for managing a flow of an unmanned vehicle within a space may be described. In particular, the unmanned vehicle may be determined as being location within the space. The space may be associated with metric that may be based on a plurality of other unmanned vehicles also located within the space. Pairs of location and time data may be computed for the unmanned vehicle. The pairs may represent a path for the unmanned vehicle to use within the space. The pairs of location data and time data computed based on data associated with the unmanned vehicle, data associated with at least one of the other unmanned vehicles, and the metric associated with the space. Once computed, the pairs may be provided to the unmanned vehicle.

Abstract: The invention provides a work machine that achieves high accuracy of forming a target construction surface and reduced fuel consumption. A trajectory corrective Pi pressure calculation section calculates a trajectory corrective pressure, which is a control signal for a boom cylinder, based on the distance from a front work device to a target construction surface such that the motion trajectory of the work device is maintained above the target construction surface. A power corrective Pi pressure calculation section calculates a power corrective pressure, which is a control signal for the boom cylinder, based on the bottom pressure of an arm cylinder when the difference between the target power and actual power of the arm cylinder is larger than a predetermined output power value. The boom cylinder is controlled based on the larger of the power corrective pressure and the trajectory corrective pressure while the arm cylinder is being operated.

Abstract: A system and method is taught for collaborative vehicle to all (V2X) communications to improve driving vehicle performance in a heterogeneous capability environment by sharing capabilities among different vehicles in both autonomous and non autonomous vehicles. In particular, the system and method are operative to locate proximate road users and to share the location, velocity and direction of the proximate road user with other road users via V2X communications.

Abstract: A system and method includes an autonomous agent having a communication interface that enables the autonomous agent to communicate with a plurality of infrastructure sensing devices; a plurality of distinct health monitors that monitor distinct operational aspects of the autonomous agent; an autonomous state machine that computes a plurality of allowed operating states of the autonomous agent based on inputs from the plurality of distinct health monitors; a plurality of distinct autonomous controllers that generate a plurality of distinct autonomous control instructions; and an arbiter of autonomous control instructions that: collects, as a first input, the plurality of autonomous control instructions generated by each of the plurality of distinct autonomous controllers; collects, as a second input, data relating to the plurality of allowed operating state of the autonomous agent; and selectively enables only a subset of the autonomous control instructions to pass to driving components of the autonomous agent

Abstract: A system and method for accounting for a mismatch that exists between a vehicle's bumper and potential impact point using an active suspension is disclosed. The system and method determine that a mismatch exists between a vehicle's bumper and a potential impact point and actuate the suspension to account for the determined mismatch. The system and method account for the mismatch existing between a vehicle's bumper and a potential impact point using a sensor for detecting that a mismatch exists between the bumper and the potential impact point, and a suspension configured to be actuated to account for the sensed mismatch to enable improved alignment of the bumper and the potential impact point.

Abstract: Example implementations involve systems and methods to control the ego vehicle to trace connected plural curved paths, which are calculated as the movement of the vehicle against vertical repulsive force from straight or curved walls, and connected continuously at the joints, and differentiable by position at the joints. Further, the repulsion force acts as deceleration force and lateral force.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a replanning determination mechanism is utilized to determine whether an ADV needs replanning of the route or trajectory based on the driving status and conditions of the ADV at the point in time, such as, for example, the difference between the planned position and the actual position, difference between a current speed and a target speed, and a difference between a current heading direction and a target heading direction. Such differences as a whole represents an error between the planning and the actual response from the ADV. If the error is greater than a predetermined threshold, replanning may be performed; otherwise, a regular planning is performed.

Abstract: A work machine provided with a lifting magnet includes the lifting magnet, an arm that supports the lifting magnet, a boom that supports the arm, an upper turning body that supports the boom, an engine, a selective catalytic reduction system, and a controller that controls attraction and release by the lifting magnet.

Abstract: A method of retrofitting a fleet asset to enable real-time damage monitoring thereof comprises securing a plurality of wires along outer surfaces of the fleet asset. The method includes configuring a control unit to: (a) continuously transmit current through each of the plurality of wires; (b) identify a damage event in response to a break in the transmitted current in any of the plurality of wires; and (c) formulate damage event data associated with the damage event in response to the identification of the damage event, the damage event data including a location of a damage. The method comprises causing the damage event data to be transmitted to a remote location.

Abstract: A method and system for identifying an object as a potential collision hazard for a vehicle. The system performs a method that includes sensing an object in a forward direction of travel of the vehicle with a sensor and determining a location of the vehicle. The method includes estimating an amount of curvature of a road segment associated with the location based on predetermined map data and generating, via an electronic processor, a reaction area based on the amount of curvature of the road segment. The method also includes identifying the object as a potential collision hazard when the object is located within the reaction area.

Abstract: A motor control unit that is connected to a motor release switch which includes FETs and is disposed between an inverter and a motor, including: a control section to detect an assist state of the inverter, to turn-ON or turn-OFF a control of the inverter based on a detection result and to detect whether abnormality is existed or not; a motor rotational speed detecting section to detect a motor rotational speed; an energy calculating section to calculate an energy based on the motor rotational speed; a judging section to turn-OFF all of the FETs of the motor release switch when the energy is within an area of safety operation; and a state detecting section to detect whether abnormality is existed or not based on information from an abnormality detecting section that detects abnormality of the sensors and the inverter, wherein the control section turns-ON the control of the inverter when the state detecting section does not detect abnormality and turns-OFF the control of the inverter when the state detecting se

Abstract: An apparatus comprising an interface and a processing circuit. The interface may be configured to receive (a) a video signal based on a targeted view in a vehicle and (b) one or more status signals from one or more sensors of the vehicle. The processing circuit may be configured to (A) analyze the video signal received from the interface and (B) detect a type of obstruction of a window of the vehicle visible in the video signal in response to (i) a classification of information in the video signal and (ii) one or more of the status signals. The processing circuit may (a) determine a confidence level for the type of obstruction, (b) activate one or more corrective measures when the confidence level is above a pre-defined threshold and (c) adjust the confidence level based on a response of the obstruction to the corrective measures.

Abstract: A control apparatus for an electric vehicle provided with an electric motor serving as a drive power source, and a step-variable transmission disposed in a power transmitting path between the electric motor and drive wheels, the control apparatus having a first control mode in which acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle are controlled on the basis of operations by an operator of the vehicle to accelerate and decelerate the vehicle, and a second control mode in which the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle are automatically adjusted according to a target running state of the vehicle, irrespective of the operations of the operator, the control apparatus including a shift-down action initiating condition setting portion configured to set a shift-down action initiating condition for initiating a shift-down action of the step-variable transmission during a regenerative decelerating run of the vehicle, according to a torque-related value related to a regenerative torque generated by the electric mot

Abstract: A cart having a wheel, a drive motor coupled to the wheel such that an output of the drive motor causes the wheel to rotate and propel the cart, a cart-computing device communicatively coupled to the drive motor; and one or more sensors communicatively coupled to the cart-computing device, the one or more sensors generating one or more signals in response to a detected event. The cart-computing device receives a communication signal and electrical power via the wheel. The communication signal corresponds to one or more instructions for controlling an operation of the cart. The cart-computing device receives the one or more signals from the one or more sensors. The cart-computing device generates and transmits a control signal to the drive motor to cause the drive motor to operate based on at least one of the one or more signals generated by the one or more sensors or the communication signal.