Patents by Inventor Raymond J. Rafaels

Raymond J. Rafaels 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: 4777785
    Abstract: A method for guiding a robotic vehicle includes the steps of establishing a tracking position along a row of vehicle sensors at which the border is to intersect the row, positioning the vehicle on the border so that the border intersects the row at an intersecting position, generating a positive signal when a sensor senses any obstruction by vegetation of a path of radiation from a respective emitter to a respective detector, generating a negative signal when a sensor does not sense any obstruction, repeating said generating steps as said vehicle advances, sending a plurality of groups of said generated signals to a processor, averaging said signals, identifying the intersecting position by identifying an adjacent pair of oppositely signalling sensors on the basis of said averaging of said signals, determining whether the tracking position is at or to the right or left of the intersecting position, and steering the vehicle straight when the tracking position is at the same location as the intersecting positio
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1986
    Date of Patent: October 18, 1988
    Inventor: Raymond J. Rafaels