Patents by Inventor Kristopher Charles Kozak

Kristopher Charles Kozak 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: 12123702
    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).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: RENU ROBOTICS CORP.
    Inventors: Tim Alan Matus, Michael Odell Blanton, Jr., Kristopher Charles Kozak, Marc Christopher Alban
  • Patent number: 12117532
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2024
    Assignee: RENU ROBOTICS CORP.
    Inventors: Michael Odell Blanton, Jr., Kristopher Charles Kozak
  • Patent number: 12038752
    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.).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: RENU ROBOTICS CORP.
    Inventors: Michael Odell Blanton, Kristopher Charles Kozak, Marc Christopher Alban
  • Patent number: 11951977
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: RENU ROBOTICS CORP.
    Inventors: Michael Odell Blanton, Kristopher Charles Kozak, Marc Christopher Alban
  • Patent number: 11944032
    Abstract: An autonomous mowing system comprising: a memory configured to hold a set of path data defining a set of paths, the set of paths comprising a transit path to a maintenance area and a set of mow paths to cover the maintenance area; a processor coupled to the memory; a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor, the computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions executable by the processor, the set of instructions comprising instructions for: using the set of path data, determining a plurality of candidate routes that traverse the transit path and fully cover the maintenance area and a total cost for each of the plurality of candidate routes; determining a least cost route from the plurality of candidate routes; and configuring an autonomous mower to follow the least cost route to mow the maintenance area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: RENU ROBOTICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tim Alan Matus, Michael Odell Blanton, Jr., Kristopher Charles Kozak, Marc Christopher Alban
  • Publication number: 20230152815
    Abstract: Systems and techniques for generating a set of connected segments for a device or system to traverse in order to reach every point of the region (a coverage plan). Nodes defining the region to be traversed define a polygon. The polygon is decomposed into a mesh and a graph of the mesh is generated. The graph may be used to determine a longest funneled path which, in turn, may be used to either optimize for a longest path or to divide the polygon for eroding sides. The longest path and/or erosions are used to define a set of segments. The segments are connected, which in some examples is done via an optimization to minimize an amount of time or energy to traverse all segments and connections. The resultant coverage plan is sent to a system configured to receive the plan and traverse the region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 3, 2023
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Inventors: Marc Christopher Alban, Zachary Austin Goins, Kristopher Charles Kozak, John Gordon Morrison
  • Patent number: 11579618
    Abstract: Systems and techniques for generating a set of connected segments for a device or system to traverse in order to reach every point of the region (a coverage plan). Nodes defining the region to be traversed define a polygon. The polygon is decomposed into a mesh and a graph of the mesh is generated. The graph may be used to determine a longest funneled path which, in turn, may be used to either optimize for a longest path or to divide the polygon for eroding sides. The longest path and/or erosions are used to define a set of segments. The segments are connected, which in some examples is done via an optimization to minimize an amount of time or energy to traverse all segments and connections. The resultant coverage plan is sent to a system configured to receive the plan and traverse the region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Scythe Robotics, Inc.
    Inventors: Marc Christopher Alban, Zachary Austin Goins, Kristopher Charles Kozak, John Gordon Morrison
  • Publication number: 20220091613
    Abstract: Systems and techniques for generating a set of connected segments for a device or system to traverse in order to reach every point of the region (a coverage plan). Nodes defining the region to be traversed define a polygon. The polygon is decomposed into a mesh and a graph of the mesh is generated. The graph may be used to determine a longest funneled path which, in turn, may be used to either optimize for a longest path or to divide the polygon for eroding sides. The longest path and/or erosions are used to define a set of segments. The segments are connected, which in some examples is done via an optimization to minimize an amount of time or energy to traverse all segments and connections. The resultant coverage plan is sent to a system configured to receive the plan and traverse the region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Publication date: March 24, 2022
    Inventors: Marc Christopher Alban, Zachary Austin Goins, Kristopher Charles Kozak, John Gordon Morrison
  • Publication number: 20210084812
    Abstract: An autonomous mowing system comprising: a memory configured to hold a set of path data defining a set of paths, the set of paths comprising a transit path to a maintenance area and a set of mow paths to cover the maintenance area; a processor coupled to the memory; a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor, the computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions executable by the processor, the set of instructions comprising instructions for: using the set of path data, determining a plurality of candidate routes that traverse the transit path and fully cover the maintenance area and a total cost for each of the plurality of candidate routes; determining a least cost route from the plurality of candidate routes; and configuring an autonomous mower to follow the least cost route to mow the maintenance area
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Inventors: Tim Alan Matus, Michael Odell Blanton, JR., Kristopher Charles Kozak, Marc Christopher Alban