Patents by Inventor Shastri Ram

Shastri Ram 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: 11595618
    Abstract: An enhanced visibility system for a work machine includes an image capture device, a sensor, one or more control circuits, and a display. The image capture device is configured to obtain image data of an area surrounding the work machine. The sensor is configured to obtain data regarding physical properties of the area surrounding the work machine. The control circuits are configured to receive the image data and the data regarding the physical properties, and augment the image data with the data regarding the physical properties to generate augmented image data. The display is configured to display the augmented image data to provide an enhanced view of the area surrounding the work machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley P. Krone, Joseph L. Faivre, Michael W. Bridenbaugh, Brad R. Van De Veer, Shastri Ram
  • Patent number: 11462030
    Abstract: A system and a method for detecting a pile of material by an autonomous machine. A 3D point cloud method includes obtaining a 3D point cloud indicative of an environment having a material pile, performing a ground surface estimation on the point cloud to identify non-ground points, grouping the non-ground points into clusters based on a proximity metric, creating a normalized height histogram for each of the clusters, comparing the normalized height histogram of each cluster to a generalized pile histogram, and identifying a cluster as a pile based on the similarity between the normalized height histogram and the generalized pile histogram. A 2D image method includes obtaining a 2D image from an imaging device, calibrating the imaging device with respect to a coordinate frame of the machine, and autonomously detecting an image of a material pile in the two-dimensional image using a trained deep-learning neural network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventor: Shastri Ram
  • Publication number: 20220180131
    Abstract: An intelligent three dimensional scanner system mountable on a movable machine, including three dimensional scanner, a camera, and control circuitry. The control circuitry is configured to receive three dimensional point data from the three dimensional scanner, receive two dimensional image data from the camera, input the two dimensional image data to a machine learning model, which identifies objects in the two dimensional image data, fuse the three dimensional point data with the identified objects in the two dimensional image data in order to identify the objects in the three dimensional point data, and control a scan pattern to direct scanning resolution of the three dimensional scanner based on the identified objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Applicant: CATERPILLAR INC.
    Inventors: Tod Andrew Oblak, Shastri Ram, Jeff T. Stringer, Sri Sekharan, Lawrence Andrew Mianzo, Mark Edward Hartman
  • Publication number: 20220136218
    Abstract: A wear detection system can be configured to capture a video stream from a camera associated with a work machine. The video stream includes a plurality of images associated with a bucket with a plurality of teeth of the work machine. The system can also be configured to segment the plurality of images using a bucket-tool template including a template image of the bucket having a plurality of unworn tools and select an image for wear detection based on the segmenting. The system is also configured to identify the plurality of teeth in the selected image based at least in part on locations of the plurality of unworn tools in the bucket-tool template. The system is also configured to determine a wear level for the plurality of teeth by comparing the plurality of teeth from the selected image with the plurality of unworn tools from the bucket-tool template.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2020
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Shastri Ram, Peter Joseph Petrany
  • Publication number: 20220136217
    Abstract: A wear detection system can be configured to receive a video stream including a plurality of images of a bucket of the work machine from a camera associated with the work machine. The bucket has one or more ground engaging tools (GET). The wear detection system can also be configured to identify a plurality of tool images from the video stream over a period of time. The plurality of tool images depict the GET at a plurality of instances over a period of time. The wear detection system can also be configured to determine a plurality of tool pixel counts from the plurality of tool image and determine a wear level for the GET based on the plurality of tool pixel counts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2020
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Joseph Petrany, Shastri Ram
  • Publication number: 20210350114
    Abstract: A system and a method for detecting a pile of material by an autonomous machine. A 3D point cloud method includes obtaining a 3D point cloud indicative of an environment having a material pile, performing a ground surface estimation on the point cloud to identify non-ground points, grouping the non-ground points into clusters based on a proximity metric, creating a normalized height histogram for each of the clusters, comparing the normalized height histogram of each cluster to a generalized pile histogram, and identifying a cluster as a pile based on the similarity between the normalized height histogram and the generalized pile histogram. A 2D image method includes obtaining a 2D image from an imaging device, calibrating the imaging device with respect to a coordinate frame of the machine, and autonomously detecting an image of a material pile in the two-dimensional image using a trained deep-learning neural network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2020
    Publication date: November 11, 2021
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventor: Shastri Ram
  • Publication number: 20210314528
    Abstract: An enhanced visibility system for a work machine includes an image capture device, a sensor, one or more control circuits, and a display. The image capture device is configured to obtain image data of an area surrounding the work machine. The sensor is configured to obtain data regarding physical properties of the area surrounding the work machine. The control circuits are configured to receive the image data and the data regarding the physical properties, and augment the image data with the data regarding the physical properties to generate augmented image data. The display is configured to display the augmented image data to provide an enhanced view of the area surrounding the work machine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2020
    Publication date: October 7, 2021
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley P. Krone, Joseph L. Faivre, Michael W. Bridenbaugh, Brad R. Van De Veer, Shastri Ram