Abstract: Disclosed herein is autonomous vehicle charging station featuring self-cleaning contact points, power flow safety features, and electrical connection testing (meeting minimum performance thresholds) for safe and efficient power transfer from the charging station to the autonomous vehicle. After docking, power line modem (PLM) communications are established between the autonomous vehicle and the charging station via an electrical power connection resulting from the docking act as an initial test of connectivity, and then the electrical power connection is determined to be safe with non-lethal power flow before charging the autonomous vehicle.

Abstract: Disclosed are solutions for proactively sensing the condition of the ground in the path of the autonomous vehicle in order to mitigate the risks of an autonomous vehicle encountering troublesome terrain, navigation obstacles, and other potential risks to the continued uninterrupted operation of said autonomous vehicle. Accordingly, various implementations disclosed herein are directed to the use of ground analysis sensors to assist in the detection of navigationally difficult terrain including, for example, the use of cantilevered sensors operating well in front of the autonomous vehicle's front wheels (drive wheels or otherwise).

Abstract: Disclosed are solutions for an autonomous vehicle to perform an initial navigational setup at an operating site by: receiving initial location and orientation data pertaining to the autonomous vehicle; iteratively sensing a plurality of recognizable objects and determining a plurality of fixed reference locations corresponding to each of the plurality of recognizable objects relative to the initial location and orientation data; and developing an operational path plan for the autonomous vehicle to traverse the operating site based on the plurality of fixed reference locations. The autonomous vehicle may be an autonomous mower, the dynamic object may be a solar panel and/or solar panel post, and the sensing may be performed using light detection and ranging (LIDAR).

Abstract: Disclosed are solutions for an autonomous vehicle to real-time detect and determine dynamic and/or obscured obstacles to support navigation and services to within a desired proximity of said obstacles. Certain such implementations are specifically directed to autonomous mowers, for example, capable of real-time object detection to determine location and orientation of solar panels in a solar farm, for example, and based on the location and orientation of such solar panels further determine the location of their corresponding posts that may be otherwise obstructed from direct detection by the autonomous mower's other sensing systems possibly due to vegetation growth around the posts or other reasons.

Abstract: Disclosed are solutions for an autonomous vehicle to real-time detect and determine dynamic and/or obscured obstacles to support navigation and services to within a desired proximity of said obstacles. Certain such implementations are specifically directed to autonomous mowers, for example, capable of real-time object detection to determine location and orientation of solar panels in a solar farm, for example, and based on the location and orientation of such solar panels further determine the location of their corresponding posts that may be otherwise obstructed from direct detection by the autonomous mower's other sensing systems possibly due to vegetation growth around the posts or other reasons.

Abstract: Disclosed are solutions for an autonomous vehicle to perform an initial navigational setup at an operating site by: receiving initial location and orientation data pertaining to the autonomous vehicle; iteratively sensing a plurality of recognizable objects and determining a plurality of fixed reference locations corresponding to each of the plurality of recognizable objects relative to the initial location and orientation data; and developing an operational path plan for the autonomous vehicle to traverse the operating site based on the plurality of fixed reference locations. The autonomous vehicle may be an autonomous mower, the dynamic object may be a solar panel and/or solar panel post, and the sensing may be performed using light detection and ranging (LIDAR).

Abstract: Disclosed herein are solar-based semi-mobile recharge skids (“solar skids”) for augmenting on-site fixed charging stations and/or mobile recharge stations, as well as for autonomous operation—that is, the solar skids may operate in conjunction with fixed charging stations, mobile recharge stations, both, or neither (i.e., operating independently). These solar skids are able to supply DC power for charging high-power electric-based autonomous vehicles—including providing variable charging power levels if needed—in a relatively short period of time and at relatively low cost. Various implementations are also directed to modular—based solar skids that can be interconnected for even higher levels and greater availability of recharge power.

Abstract: Disclosed are solutions for proactively sensing the condition of the ground in the path of the autonomous vehicle in order to mitigate the risks of an autonomous vehicle encountering troublesome terrain, navigation obstacles, and other potential risks to the continued uninterrupted operation of said autonomous vehicle. Accordingly, various implementations disclosed herein are directed to the use of ground analysis sensors to assist in the detection of navigationally difficult terrain including, for example, the use of cantilevered sensors operating well in front of the autonomous vehicle's front wheels (drive wheels or otherwise).

Abstract: Disclosed is an approach for recalibrating a mobile base station (MBS) after it has moved to a non-survey location by determining a satellite-signal-accurate (SSA) location for the mobile base station based on GPS signals received by the mobile base station and further determining a near-survey-accurate (NSA) location for the mobile base station based on the determined SSA location for the mobile base station and applying an offset calculated by the navigational vehicle based on relatively fixed objects for which near-survey-accurate locations are known.

Abstract: Disclosed are solutions for autonomous vehicle navigation that, in the context of an exemplary solar farm, enable the autonomous vehicle to detect solar panels directly, estimate the centerline of the panels regardless of the tilt angle, and then determine the distance and/or direction (globally or relative to the vehicle) from the centerline to the autonomous vehicle in order to then estimate the position of the latter (that is, where the centerline of the solar panel becomes a surrogate for a static, fixed feature for purposes of navigation.).

Abstract: A grounds maintenance system comprising: a robot tractor comprising; a robot body; a drive system including one or more motorized drive wheels to propel the robot body; a control system coupled to the drive system, the control system configurable to store a mow plan that specifies a set of paths to be traversed for a grounds maintenance operation and control the drive system to autonomously traverse the set of paths to implement the mow plan; a battery system comprising one or more batteries housed in the robot body; and a low-profile mowing deck coupled to the robot body, the mowing deck adapted to tilt and lift relative to the robot body, wherein the control system is configured to control tilting and lifting of the mowing deck and cutting by the mowing deck.

Abstract: Disclosed are solutions for an autonomous vehicle to real-time detect and determine dynamic and/or obscured obstacles to support navigation and services to within a desired proximity of said obstacles. Certain such implementations are specifically directed to autonomous mowers, for example, capable of real-time object detection to determine location and orientation of solar panels in a solar farm, for example, and based on the location and orientation of such solar panels further determine the location of their corresponding posts that may be otherwise obstructed from direct detection by the autonomous mower's other sensing systems possibly due to vegetation growth around the posts or other reasons.