Patents by Inventor Alyssa Pierson

Alyssa Pierson has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11938240
    Abstract: An autonomous, mobile robotic device (AMR) is configured with one or more UVC radiation sources, and operates to traverse a path while disinfecting an interior space. Each UVC radiation source is connected to the AMR by an articulating arm that is controlled to orient each source towards a feature or surface that is selected for disinfection during the time that the AMR is moving through the space. The location of each feature selected for disinfection can be mapped, and this map information, a current AMR location and pose can be used to generate signals that are used to control the articulating arm to orient each UVC lamp towards a feature that is selected for disinfection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: AVA ROBOTICS INC.
    Inventors: Alyssa Pierson, Saman Amarasinghe, Daniela Rus, Marcio Macedo, Youssef Saleh
  • Patent number: 11884302
    Abstract: Understanding the intent of human drivers and adapting to their driving styles is used to increased efficiency and safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs) by enabling them to behave in safe and predictable ways without requiring explicit inter-vehicle communication. A Social Value Orientation (SVO), which quantifies the degree of an agent's selfishness or altruism, is estimated by the AV for other vehicles to better predict how they will interact and cooperate with others. Interactions between agents are modeled as a best response game wherein each agent negotiates to maximize their own utility. A dynamic game solution uses the Nash equilibrium, yielding an online method of predicting multi-agent interactions given their SVOs. This approach allows autonomous vehicles to observe human drivers, estimate their SVOs, and generate an autonomous control policy in real time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Daniela Rus, Sertac Karaman, Javier Alonso Mora, Alyssa Pierson, Wilko Schwarting
  • Patent number: 11808590
    Abstract: An approach to autonomous navigation of a vehicle augments a static map of an environment with a clutter map characterizing a risk of encountering an object that is not represented in the static map of the environment. For example, the clutter map may be based on locations and velocities of those objects, and route planning may avoid planning a path through locations that have a high risk of occupancy, and therefore potential delay or collision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Daniela Rus, Sertac Karaman, Wilko Schwarting, Anshula Gandhi, Cristian-Ioan Vasile, Alyssa Pierson
  • Patent number: 11724691
    Abstract: Systems and methods described herein relate to estimating risk associated with a vehicular maneuver. One embodiment acquires a geometric representation of an intersection including a lane in which a vehicle is traveling and at least one other lane; discretizes the at least one other lane into a plurality of segments; determines a trajectory along which the vehicle will travel; estimates a probability density function for whether a road agent external to the vehicle is present in the respective segments; estimates a traffic-conflict probability of a traffic conflict in the respective segments conditioned on whether an external road agent is present; estimates a risk associated with the vehicle following the trajectory by integrating a product of the probability density function and the traffic-conflict probability over the at least one other lane and the plurality of segments; and controls operation of the vehicle based, at least in part, on the estimated risk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignees: Toyota Research Institute, Inc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Stephen G. McGill, Jr., Guy Rosman, Moses Theodore Ort, Alyssa Pierson, Igor Gilitschenski, Minoru Brandon Araki, Luke S. Fletcher, Sertac Karaman, Daniela Rus, John Joseph Leonard
  • Publication number: 20220143249
    Abstract: An autonomous, mobile robotic device (AMR) is configured with one or more UVC radiation sources, and operates to traverse a path while disinfecting an interior space. Each UVC radiation source is connected to the AMR by an articulating arm that is controlled to orient each source towards a feature or surface that is selected for disinfection during the time that the AMR is moving through the space. The location of each feature selected for disinfection can be mapped, and this map information, a current AMR location and pose can be used to generate signals that are used to control the articulating arm to orient each UVC lamp towards a feature that is selected for disinfection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2021
    Publication date: May 12, 2022
    Inventors: ALYSSA PIERSON, SAMAN AMARASINGHE, DANIELA RUS, MARCIO MACEDO, YOUSSEF SALEH
  • Publication number: 20220143237
    Abstract: An autonomous, mobile robotic device (AMR) is configured with one or more UVC radiation sources, and operates to traverse a path while disinfecting an interior space. Each UVC radiation source is connected to the AMR by an articulating arm that is controlled to orient each source towards a feature or surface that is selected for disinfection during the time that the AMR is moving through the space. The location of each feature selected for disinfection can be mapped, and this map information, a current AMR location and pose can be used to generate signals that are used to control the articulating arm to orient each UVC lamp towards a feature that is selected for disinfection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2021
    Publication date: May 12, 2022
    Inventors: ALYSSA PIERSON, SAMAN AMARASINGHE, DANIELA RUS, MARCIO MACEDO, YOUSSEF SALEH
  • Publication number: 20220143250
    Abstract: An autonomous, mobile robotic device (AMR) is configured with one or more UVC radiation sources, and operates to traverse a path while disinfecting an interior space. Each UVC radiation source is connected to the AMR by an articulating arm that is controlled to orient each source towards a feature or surface that is selected for disinfection during the time that the AMR is moving through the space. The location of each feature selected for disinfection can be mapped, and this map information, a current AMR location and pose can be used to generate signals that are used to control the articulating arm to orient each UVC lamp towards a feature that is selected for disinfection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2021
    Publication date: May 12, 2022
    Inventors: ALYSSA PIERSON, SAMAN AMARASINGHE, DANIELA RUS, MARCIO MACEDO, YOUSSEF SALEH
  • Patent number: 11300968
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for use in a planning agent, the method including: identifying a first agent in a vicinity of the planning agent; identifying a location of the first agent and a velocity of the first agent; calculating a set of occupancy costs for the first agent, each occupancy cost in the set of occupancy costs being associated with a different respective location in the vicinity of the planning agent, each occupancy cost in the set of occupancy costs being calculated at least in part based on a cost function that depends on the location of the first agent and the velocity of the first agent; and changing at least one of speed or direction of travel of the planning agent based on the set of occupancy costs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Alyssa Pierson, Wilko Schwarting, Sertac Karaman, Daniela L. Rus
  • Publication number: 20210146964
    Abstract: Understanding the intent of human drivers and adapting to their driving styles is used to increased efficiency and safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs) by enabling them to behave in safe and predictable ways without requiring explicit inter-vehicle communication. A Social Value Orientation (SVO), which quantifies the degree of an agent's selfishness or altruism, is estimated by the AV for other vehicles to better predict how they will interact and cooperate with others. Interactions between agents are modeled as a best response game wherein each agent negotiates to maximize their own utility. A dynamic game solution uses the Nash equilibrium, yielding an online method of predicting multi-agent interactions given their SVOs. This approach allows autonomous vehicles to observe human drivers, estimate their SVOs, and generate an autonomous control policy in real time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2020
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Daniela Rus, Sertac Karaman, Javier Alonso Mora, Alyssa Pierson, Wilko Schwarting
  • Publication number: 20200225053
    Abstract: An approach to autonomous navigation of a vehicle augments a static map of an environment with a clutter map characterizing a risk of encountering an object that is not represented in the static map of the environment. For example, the clutter map may be based on locations and velocities of those objects, and route planning may avoid planning a path through locations that have a high risk of occupancy, and therefore potential delay or collision.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Publication date: July 16, 2020
    Inventors: Daniela Rus, Sertac Karaman, Wilko Schwarting, Anshula Gandhi, Cristian-loan Vasile, Alyssa Pierson
  • Publication number: 20200086859
    Abstract: Systems and methods described herein relate to estimating risk associated with a vehicular maneuver. One embodiment acquires a geometric representation of an intersection including a lane in which a vehicle is traveling and at least one other lane; discretizes the at least one other lane into a plurality of segments; determines a trajectory along which the vehicle will travel; estimates a probability density function for whether a road agent external to the vehicle is present in the respective segments; estimates a traffic-conflict probability of a traffic conflict in the respective segments conditioned on whether an external road agent is present; estimates a risk associated with the vehicle following the trajectory by integrating a product of the probability density function and the traffic-conflict probability over the at least one other lane and the plurality of segments; and controls operation of the vehicle based, at least in part, on the estimated risk.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2019
    Publication date: March 19, 2020
    Inventors: Stephen G. McGill, JR., Guy Rosman, Moses Theodore Ort, Alyssa Pierson, Igor Gilitschenski, Minoru Brandon Araki, Luke S. Fletcher, Sertac Karaman, Daniela Rus, John Joseph Leonard
  • Publication number: 20190354109
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for use in a planning agent, the method including: identifying a first agent in a vicinity of the planning agent; identifying a location of the first agent and a velocity of the first agent; calculating a set of occupancy costs for the first agent, each occupancy cost in the set of occupancy costs being associated with a different respective location in the vicinity of the planning agent, each occupancy cost in the set of occupancy costs being calculated at least in part based on a cost function that depends on the location of the first agent and the velocity of the first agent; and changing at least one of speed or direction of travel of the planning agent based on the set of occupancy costs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Alyssa Pierson, Wilko Schwarting, Sertac Karaman, Daniela L. Rus