Patents Examined by Khoi H. Tran
  • Patent number: 11814120
    Abstract: A data processing system including a data processing apparatus that can generate an accurate road surface displacement correlating value that is used for a preview damping control is provided. The system includes a cloud having a data processing section and a processing-data-base-section for temporally storing data. The data processing apparatus stores sensing data in the processing-data-base-section, wherein the sensing data is a chunk of sensor values from which a road surface displacement correlating value correlating with a vertical displacement of a road surface on which said vehicle is traveling can be calculated. The sensor values are sequentially and successively detected/obtained by various sensors of the vehicle. The data processing section performs specific offline data processing for a chunk of the sensing data stored in the processing-data-base-section so as to generate data of the road surface displacement correlating value from the sensing data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroki Furuta
  • Patent number: 11815899
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes receiving data regarding an area to be cleaned, the data comprising data regarding movement of people or machines through the area to be cleaned; training a machine learning cleaning model based on the data; creating a floor cleaning plan using the machine learning cleaning model, the floor cleaning plan identifying a cleaning time to minimize a likelihood of a robotic cleaning device encountering a person or a machine while cleaning; and transmitting the floor cleaning plan to a robotic cleaning device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ernest Bernard Williams, Jr., Zachary James Goodman, Henry Ramsey Bissex, Jeremy R. Fox, Sarbajit K. Rakshit
  • Patent number: 11813750
    Abstract: A programming support apparatus includes: a storage device configured to store work jobs each of which defines operation pattern of a robot; and circuitry configured to: set an environmental condition of the robot at one or more execution timings associated with the work jobs in accordance with user input; select a plurality of the work jobs in accordance with the user input; and check whether at least one work job of the plurality of work jobs satisfies the environmental condition of the robot at an execution timing of the one work job based on an execution flow of the plurality of work jobs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Inventors: Yukiko Sawada, Kanji Takanishi
  • Patent number: 11813751
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for generating paths for a robot based on optimizing multiple objectives. One of the methods includes: receiving, by a motion planner, request to generate a path for a robot between a start point and an end point in a workcell of the robot, wherein the workcell is associated with one or more soft margin values that define spaces in which the robot should avoid when transitioning between points in the workcell; classifying path segments within the workcell as being inside the soft margin or outside the soft margin; generating a respective cost for each of the plurality of path segments within the workcell; generating a plurality of alternative paths; evaluating the plurality of alternative paths according to the respective costs; and selecting an alternative path based on respective total costs of the plurality of alternative paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Intrinsic Innovation LLC
    Inventors: Ryan Butterfoss, Jean-Francois Dupuis
  • Patent number: 11807317
    Abstract: A method is for operating a vehicle. The vehicle includes a steering system with at least one steering handle and at least one steering sensor operatively connected to the steering handle and configured to at least detect a driver intervention in an automated drive operating mode. In at least one faulty operating state, in which the vehicle is in the automated drive operating mode and a malfunction and/or a disturbance of the steering sensor is ascertained and/or a steering sensor signal of the steering sensor is ascertained, the steering sensor signal correlating in particular to the driver intervention, an interruption process is initiated in order to discontinue the automated drive operating mode. During the interruption process, at least one wheel steering angle characteristic variable of at least one vehicle wheel of the vehicle is ascertained and taken into consideration while discontinuing the automated drive operating mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Reinhard Grossheim
  • Patent number: 11809183
    Abstract: A system for unmanned driving of a vehicle includes an autonomous driving kit with a detachable terminal having a modularized autonomous driving sensor and configured to support the autonomous driving function of the vehicle. The autonomous driving kit is configured to grasp a vehicle system including various controllers and various sensors applied to the vehicle through a vehicle communication unit of the vehicle and to control autonomous driving adapted to multiple vehicle types and options for each vehicle through cooperative control of the vehicle system and the autonomous driving sensor. A control server is configured to recognize the vehicle to which the autonomous driving kit is attached, provide a moving route of the vehicle, collect a moving state and surrounding conditions of the vehicle based on image information of cameras and transmit the information to the autonomous driving kit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Changmo Yang, Jin Seok Kim
  • Patent number: 11806874
    Abstract: A robot system includes a robot including rotary joints to be rotated and driven about axes by a motor, and a control device that controls the motor based on external force torque about the axes that acts on each of the respective rotary joints, a force point to apply external force is preset to the robot, and the control device calculates distances from the axes of the rotary joints to the force point based on angles of the rotary joints of the robot, and adjusts and increases an operation amount to the motor as the calculated distances decrease.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shintarou Hori
  • Patent number: 11806876
    Abstract: A control apparatus includes an operation unit that teaches the robot a position, a posture changing instruction unit that instructs a position change when the robot passes through a singularity or its vicinity, a singularity passing motion request unit that instructs the robot to change its posture, a robot drive information request unit that acquires robot drive information, and a robot G-code generation unit that inserts a G-code from the robot drive information into a program. A robot includes a drive control unit that drives the robot, a singularity determination unit that determines passage through the singularity or its vicinity, a singularity passing pattern generation unit that generates a motion plan for passage through the singularity or its vicinity based on the changed posture, and a robot drive information output unit that transmits the robot drive information to the control apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kazutaka Imanishi
  • Patent number: 11803181
    Abstract: A navigation system for remote control movement of modular vehicle subassemblies (MVSs) through a plurality of assembly zones of a vehicle assembly facility includes a predefined primary pathway configured for the MVSs to move along during assembly of top hats on the MVSs, a plurality of sensors, a plurality of zone controllers, and a central management system with a navigation algorithm. The plurality of sensors are configured to transmit at least one of proximity data and visual data on the MVSs moving through the plurality of assembly zones to the plurality of zone controllers. The central management system is configured to be in communication with each of the plurality of zone controllers and the navigation algorithm is configured to receive the at least one of proximity data and visual data and calculate movement instructions for remote control movement of the MVSs moving through the plurality of assembly zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Galen Keith Thomas, Kerry Lance Paskell
  • Patent number: 11794804
    Abstract: Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for controlling a motor driven power steering system. The apparatus for controlling a motor driven power steering system includes a steering angle position controller configured to control a steering angle by adjusting a gain value based on a steering angle error between a command steering angle inputted by an autonomous driving system and a current steering angle; a current controller configured to compensate for a current error between a second command current outputted from the steering angle position controller and a sensor current; and a disturbance estimator configured to estimate noise due to an external factor, to remove the estimated noise in advance from a third command current outputted from the current controller, and to apply the third command current with no noise to an MDPS.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tae Hong Kim
  • Patent number: 11794579
    Abstract: A driving system is operatable at least in a first automated driving mode with automated longitudinal and/or lateral control, and in a different second automated driving mode with automated longitudinal and/or lateral control. The driving system has a steering wheel display with luminous elements for illuminating the steering wheel, which can be operated in different illumination states that are distinguishable by the driver. The luminous elements may illuminate the steering wheel rim, and are typically integrated into the steering wheel rim. The driving system specifies which illumination state of the different illumination states the steering wheel display has. The driving system specifies that, during operation of the driving system in the first driving mode, the steering wheel display is illuminated in a first illumination state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Marc Breisinger, Julian Eichhorn, Philipp Kerschbaum, Lutz Lorenz, Stephan Mueller, Julia Niemann, Philipp Suessenguth
  • Patent number: 11795014
    Abstract: An automated robotic depalletizing system includes at least one robot for transferring inventory that arrives on a pallet to different storage locations within a warehouse. The robot may perform the automated depalletizing by moving to the pallet having a stacked arrangement of a plurality of objects, identifying, via a sensor, a topmost object of the plurality of objects, aligning a retriever with the topmost object, engaging the topmost object with the retriever, and transferring the topmost object from the pallet to the robot by actuating the retriever. The automated depalletizing may also be performed via coordinated operations of two or more robots. For instance, a first robot may retrieve objects from the pallet, and a second set of one or more robots may be used to transfer the retrieved objects into storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: inVia Robotics, Inc.
    Inventors: Lior Elazary, Randolph Charles Voorhies, Daniel Frank Parks, II
  • Patent number: 11787041
    Abstract: A robot including a driver configured to move a main body, a memory configured to store an obstacle map with respect to a cleaning area, a sensor configured to collect information about the cleaning area, a communication interface configured to communicate with a second robot, and a controller is disclosed. The controller is configured to, when receiving an obstacle map including position information for a liquid region in the cleaning area from the second robot, control the main body to move to the liquid region and clean the liquid region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Wonjun Choi
  • Patent number: 11787056
    Abstract: An obstacle avoidance method for a robot arm is provided, including a modeling step, a collecting and evaluating coordinates step, an obtaining control parameter step, an establishing an occupation function step, and a finding an obstacle avoiding posture step. The present invention pre-stores the data obtained in performing the modeling step, the step of collecting and evaluating coordinates, the step of obtaining control parameter, and the step of establishing the occupation function into a database, thereby allowing the robot arm to quickly evaluate whether a collision behavior will occur in subsequent execution of a task. If a collision will occur, the robot arm executes the step of the finding the obstacle avoiding posture to dodge obstacles. The invention uses a non-contact approach for anti-collision design, which can improve the shortcomings faced by the existing contact type anti-collision design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Po Ting Lin, Chao Yi Lin, Shih Wei Lin, Kun Cheng Li, Chang Yun Yang, Pei Fen Wu, Shun Chien Lan
  • Patent number: 11787052
    Abstract: Techniques and systems are disclosed for using swept volume profile data cached in association with a PRM to improve various aspects of motion planning for a robot. In some implementations, a first probabilistic road map representing possible paths to be travelled by a robot within a physical area is generated. An initial path for the robot within the first probabilistic road map is determined. Data indicating a second probabilistic road map representing a path to be travelled by a movable object within the physical area is obtained. A potential obstruction associated with one or more edges included in the subset of edges is detected. An adjusted path for the robot within the first probabilistic road map is then determined based on the potential obstruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Intrinsic Innovation LLC
    Inventors: Jean-Francois Dupuis, Keegan Go, Michael Hemmer
  • Patent number: 11787046
    Abstract: There is provided a control device that controls a robot based on a work sequence in which a plurality of commands including a first command and a second command are arrayed, the control device including a display control section configured to display the work sequence on a display section, and a storing section configured to store display position relation information including first display position relation information indicating a relative first display position relation between a display position of the first command in the work sequence displayed on the display section and a display position of the second command in the work sequence displayed on the display section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Inventor: Kengo Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 11780091
    Abstract: To provide a robot control system and a robot control method capable of placing a component grasped by a robot hand at an accurate location on another member. A robot control system is provided with: a robot hand configured to grasp a clip; a camera configured to capture an image of the clip grasped by the robot hand, a calculation unit configured to calculate a position of the clip or an inclination of a component based on an imaging result of the clip captured by the camera, and a robot control unit configured to control the robot hand to adjust, based on the position of the clip or the inclination of the component calculated by the calculation unit, a position or an inclination of the robot hand and move the clip to a stringer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Akira Kono, Takuya Goto, Takeshi Yamada, Katsumi Nakamura, Kazuto Nakamura, Kenichi Tsuruda, Takahiro Inagaki
  • Patent number: 11779180
    Abstract: A robot cleaner for cleaning in consideration of a floor state through artificial intelligence includes a cleaning unit including a suction unit and a mopping unit, a driving unit to drive the robot cleaner, and a processor to obtain a carpet area or a rug area based on cleaning data, and to control the driving unit to change an entrance direction of the robot cleaner when the robot cleaner enters the carpet area or the rug area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Kokeun Kim, Suyeon Kim, Kamin Lee, Seungah Chae
  • Patent number: 11780089
    Abstract: In the field of robot technologies, a robot control method and apparatus are for protecting safety of a human during interaction between the human and a robot. The method includes: detecting a current location of the human; determining at least two regions surrounding the human according to the detected current location; and controlling movement of the robot in any region of the at least two regions, to protect safety of the human during interaction with the robot. Because the region is set surrounding the human, movement of the human does not affect the interaction between the human and the robot. In addition, using a protected object as a target, the robot is controlled to move in regions that surround the human. Compared with a case in which the robot is limited in fixed space, no matter how the human moves, safety of the human may be effectively protected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Jun Hu He, Carlos Morra
  • Patent number: 11774970
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for controlling an array of multiple autonomous robots. In particular, the methods addresses an issue of controlling the multiple autonomous robots with to-be-controlled object units (units) when there is a non-contact portion in a common location between a set of initial locations of the units and a set of target locations of the units. The methods include: selecting a head to-be-controlled object unit (head object) based on a object unit at a location inside a set of locations and adjacent to a destination location, selecting a tail to-be-controlled object unit (tail object) based on a unit at a location outside the set and inside the initial location, moving a series of units from the head unit to the tail unit so as to follow operation of the head unit, and updating the set based on the destination location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiroshi Kawano