Patents by Inventor Nathan Donald Ratliff

Nathan Donald Ratliff 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).

  • Publication number: 20250083309
    Abstract: In various examples, systems and methods are disclosed relating to geometric fabrics for accelerated policy learning and sim-to-real transfer in robotics systems, platforms, and/or applications. For example, a system can provide an input indicative of a goal pose for a robot to a model to cause the model to generate an output, the output representing a plurality of points along a path for movement of the robot to the goal pose; and generate one or more control signals for operation of the robot based at least on the plurality of points along the path and a policy corresponding to one or more criteria for the operation of the robot. In examples, the system can provide the one or more control signals to the robot to cause the robot to move toward the goal pose.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2024
    Publication date: March 13, 2025
    Applicant: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Nathan Donald RATLIFF, Karl VAN WYK, Ankur HANDA, Viktor MAKOVIICHUK, Yijie GUO, Jie XU, Tyler LUM, Balakumar SUNDARALINGAM, Jingzhou LIU
  • Patent number: 12240112
    Abstract: Apparatuses, systems, and techniques provide a policy that can be executed to cause a machine to move. In at least one embodiment, a first policy layer is provided to cause the machine to execute a first motion that causes the machine to accelerate to reach an unbiased state. A second policy layer is provided to cause the machine to execute a second motion without influencing the unbiased state to be reached by machine. The policy can comprise the first and second policy layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Nathan Donald Ratliff, Karl Van Wyk, Man Xie, Anqi Li, Muhammad Asif Rana
  • Patent number: 12109701
    Abstract: A robot is controlled using a combination of model-based and model-free control methods. In some examples, the model-based method uses a physical model of the environment around the robot to guide the robot. The physical model is oriented using a perception system such as a camera. Characteristics of the perception system may be are used to determine an uncertainty for the model. Based at least in part on this uncertainty, the system transitions from the model-based method to a model-free method where, in some embodiments, information provided directly from the perception system is used to direct the robot without reliance on the physical model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Jonathan Tremblay, Dieter Fox, Michelle Lee, Carlos Florensa, Nathan Donald Ratliff, Animesh Garg, Fabio Tozeto Ramos
  • Publication number: 20240319713
    Abstract: In various examples, systems and methods are disclosed relating to decider networks for reactive decision-making, including for control of robotic systems. The decider networks can allow robotic systems to operate more collaboratively, such as by allowing the robotic systems to more frequently process and react to dynamic states of the environment and objects in the environment, such as to change decisions and/or paths of decision execution responsive to dynamic changes in logical states. The decider network can include a plurality of nodes having functions to process the logical states in sequence to determine actions for the robotic systems to perform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2023
    Publication date: September 26, 2024
    Applicant: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventor: Nathan Donald Ratliff
  • Publication number: 20240131706
    Abstract: Apparatuses, systems, and techniques to perform collision-free motion generation (e.g., to operate a real-world or virtual robot). In at least one embodiment, at least a portion of the collision-free motion generation is performed in parallel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2023
    Publication date: April 25, 2024
    Inventors: Balakumar Sundaralingam, Siva Kumar Sastry Hari, Adam Harper Fishman, Caelan Reed Garrett, Alexander James Millane, Elena Oleynikova, Ankur Handa, Fabio Tozeto Ramos, Nathan Donald Ratliff, Karl Van Wyk, Dieter Fox
  • Publication number: 20220371184
    Abstract: Apparatuses, systems, and techniques provide a policy that can be executed to cause a machine to move. In at least one embodiment, a first policy layer is provided to cause the machine to execute a first motion that causes the machine to accelerate to reach an unbiased state. A second policy layer is provided to cause the machine to execute a second motion without influencing the unbiased state to be reached by machine. The policy can comprise the first and second policy layers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2022
    Publication date: November 24, 2022
    Inventors: Nathan Donald Ratliff, Karl Van Wyk, Man Xie, Anqi Li, Muhammad Asif Rana
  • Publication number: 20210146531
    Abstract: A robot is controlled using a combination of model-based and model-free control methods. In some examples, the model-based method uses a physical model of the environment around the robot to guide the robot. The physical model is oriented using a perception system such as a camera. Characteristics of the perception system may be are used to determine an uncertainty for the model. Based at least in part on this uncertainty, the system transitions from the model-based method to a model-free method where, in some embodiments, information provided directly from the perception system is used to direct the robot without reliance on the physical model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Jonathan Tremblay, Dieter Fox, Michelle Lee, Carlos Florensa, Nathan Donald Ratliff, Animesh Garg, Fabio Tozeto Ramos