Patents by Inventor Toffee A. Albina

Toffee A. Albina 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: 11827500
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein related to a robotic system for transporting a container. The robotic system includes a lifting mechanism and a container storage assembly coupled to the lifting mechanism. The container storage assembly includes at least one bracket assembly that further includes a bracket elongated member. The bracket elongated member includes a surface having at least one slot and a locking mechanism within the at least one slot. The at least one slot and the locking mechanism are configured to slidably receive and positively lock at least one locking member of the container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Aimee S. Goncalves, Joseph Bondaryk, Paul W. Baim, Christopher Gidwell, Toffee Albina
  • Patent number: 11597098
    Abstract: An assistive robot system includes a lifting mechanism, a movable arm assembly, a processing device, and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium in communication with the processing device. The processing device transmits a command to the lifting mechanism to cause the lifting mechanism to move the movable arm assembly such that a container is gripped within the movable arm assembly, transmits a first one or more signals to the movable arm assembly to cause the movable arm assembly to extend in a system longitudinal direction such that the movable arm assembly grips the container. The movable arm assembly is positioned at a release location and transmits a second one or more signals to the movable arm assembly to cause the movable arm assembly to extend in a system lateral direction such that the container gripped within the movable arm assembly is released from the movable arm assembly at the release location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Aimee S. Goncalves, Christopher Gidwell, Joseph Bondaryk, Paul W. Baim, Toffee Albina
  • Patent number: 11505017
    Abstract: A robotic system that includes a body, a hitch assembly coupled to the body, and a sensor array coupled to the body. The robotic system includes a processor and operating logic containing programming instructions thereon that, when executed, causes the processor to detect, via the sensor array, a location of a vehicle relative to the body. The programming instructions of the operating logic further cause the processor to detect, via the sensor array, a position of a hitch receiver along the vehicle and move the body toward the vehicle to position the hitch assembly proximate to the hitch receiver. The programming instructions of the operating logic further cause the processor to move the hitch assembly relative to the body and in alignment with the hitch receiver and engage the hitch assembly to the hitch receiver to securely couple the body to the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Aimee S. Goncalves, Paul W. Baim, Toffee Albina, Joseph Bondaryk
  • Patent number: 11420338
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed to an assistive robot system. The assistive robot system includes a lifting mechanism, a movable arm assembly coupled to the lifting mechanism, a container tilting arm assembly, a processing device communicatively coupled to the lifting mechanism and the movable arm assembly, and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium in communication with the processing device. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium causes the processing device to transmit a command to the lifting mechanism to cause the lifting mechanism to move the movable arm assembly such that the container tilting arm assembly makes contact with a container and transmits one or more signals to the movable arm assembly to cause the movable arm assembly to extend in a system longitudinal direction such that the container within the movable arm assembly is pivoted against the container tilting assembly to tilt the container within the movable arm assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Joseph Bondaryk, James D. C. Lent, Aimee S. Goncalves, Paul W. Baim, Christopher Gidwell, Toffee Albina
  • Patent number: 11148696
    Abstract: An assistive robot includes a manipulator, a base coupled to the manipulator, the base defining a front end and a rear end positioned opposite the front end, the base including a chassis body, a front conveyor assembly positioned at the front end of the base, the front conveyor assembly including a front conveyor defining a conveyor pathway that extends at least partially within the chassis body and a front toe extending outward from the front conveyor, and a rear conveyor assembly positioned at the rear end of the base, the rear conveyor assembly including a rear conveyor defining a conveyor pathway that extends at least partially within the chassis body and a rear toe extending outward from the rear conveyor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Suhas Malghan, Joseph Bondaryk, Paul W. Baim, Toffee Albina
  • Publication number: 20200207167
    Abstract: A robotic system that includes a body, a hitch assembly coupled to the body, and a sensor array coupled to the body. The robotic system includes a processor and operating logic containing programming instructions thereon that, when executed, causes the processor to detect, via the sensor array, a location of a vehicle relative to the body. The programming instructions of the operating logic further cause the processor to detect, via the sensor array, a position of a hitch receiver along the vehicle and move the body toward the vehicle to position the hitch assembly proximate to the hitch receiver. The programming instructions of the operating logic further cause the processor to move the hitch assembly relative to the body and in alignment with the hitch receiver and engage the hitch assembly to the hitch receiver to securely couple the body to the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Aimee S. Goncalves, Paul W. Baim, Toffee Albina, Joseph Bondaryk
  • Publication number: 20200207394
    Abstract: An assistive robot includes a manipulator, a base coupled to the manipulator, the base defining a front end and a rear end positioned opposite the front end, the base including a chassis body, a front conveyor assembly positioned at the front end of the base, the front conveyor assembly including a front conveyor defining a conveyor pathway that extends at least partially within the chassis body and a front toe extending outward from the front conveyor, and a rear conveyor assembly positioned at the rear end of the base, the rear conveyor assembly including a rear conveyor defining a conveyor pathway that extends at least partially within the chassis body and a rear toe extending outward from the rear conveyor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Suhas Malghan, Joseph Bondaryk, Paul W. Baim, Toffee Albina
  • Publication number: 20200206909
    Abstract: An assistive robot system includes a lifting mechanism, a movable arm assembly, a processing device, and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium in communication with the processing device. The processing device transmits a command to the lifting mechanism to cause the lifting mechanism to move the movable arm assembly such that a container is gripped within the movable arm assembly, transmits a first one or more signals to the movable arm assembly to cause the movable arm assembly to extend in a system longitudinal direction such that the movable arm assembly grips the container. The movable arm assembly is positioned at a release location and transmits a second one or more signals to the movable arm assembly to cause the movable arm assembly to extend in a system lateral direction such that the container gripped within the movable arm assembly is released from the movable arm assembly at the release location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Aimee S. Goncalves, Christopher Gidwell, Joseph Bondaryk, Paul W. Baim, Toffee Albina
  • Publication number: 20200206946
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed to an assistive robot system. The assistive robot system includes a lifting mechanism, a movable arm assembly coupled to the lifting mechanism, a container tilting arm assembly, a processing device communicatively coupled to the lifting mechanism and the movable arm assembly, and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium in communication with the processing device. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium causes the processing device to transmit a command to the lifting mechanism to cause the lifting mechanism to move the movable arm assembly such that the container tilting arm assembly makes contact with a container and transmits one or more signals to the movable arm assembly to cause the movable arm assembly to extend in a system longitudinal direction such that the container within the movable arm assembly is pivoted against the container tilting assembly to tilt the container within the movable arm assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph Bondaryk, James D. C. Lent, Aimee S. Goncalves, Paul W. Baim, Christopher Gidwell, Toffee Albina
  • Publication number: 20200207597
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein related to a robotic system for transporting a container. The robotic system includes a lifting mechanism and a container storage assembly coupled to the lifting mechanism. The container storage assembly includes at least one bracket assembly that further includes a bracket elongated member. The bracket elongated member includes a surface having at least one slot and a locking mechanism within the at least one slot. The at least one slot and the locking mechanism are configured to slidably receive and positively lock at least one locking member of the container.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Aimee S. Goncalves, Joseph Bondaryk, Paul W. Baim, Christopher Gidwell, Toffee Albina
  • Patent number: 7120582
    Abstract: The invention provides techniques for creating and using fragmented word models to increase the effective size of an active vocabulary of a speech recognition system. The active vocabulary represents all words and word fragments that the speech recognition system is able to recognize. Each word may be represented by a combination of acoustic models. As such, the active vocabulary represents the combinations of acoustic models that the speech recognition system may compare to a user's speech to identify acoustic models that best match the user's speech. The effective size of the active vocabulary may be increased by dividing words into constituent components or fragments (for example, prefixes, suffixes, separators, infixes, and roots) and including each component as a separate entry in the active vocabulary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2006
    Assignee: Dragon Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan H. Young, Haakon L. Chevalier, Laurence S. Gillick, Toffee A. Albina, Marlboro B. Moore, III, Paul E. Rensing, Jonathan P. Yamron
  • Patent number: 6424943
    Abstract: A computer enrolls a user in a speech recognition system by obtaining data representing a user's speech, the speech including multiple user utterances and generally corresponding to an enrollment text, and analyzing acoustic content of data corresponding to a user utterance. The computer determines, based on the analysis, whether the user utterance matches a portion of the enrollment text. If so, the computer uses the acoustic content of the user utterance to update acoustic models corresponding to the portion of the enrollment text. The computer may determine that the user utterance matches a portion of the enrollment text even when the user has skipped or repeated words of the enrollment text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2002
    Assignee: Scansoft, Inc.
    Inventors: Stefan Sherwood, David Wilsberg Parmenter, Joel M. Gould, Toffee A. Albina, Allan Gold
  • Publication number: 20020077823
    Abstract: A software development method and apparatus is provided for the simultaneous creation of software applications that operate on a variety of client devices and include text-to-speech and speech recognition capabilities. A software development system and related method use a graphical user interface that provides a software developer with an intuitive drag and drop technique for building software applications. Program elements, accessible with the drag and drop technique, include corresponding markup code that is adapted to operate on the plurality of different client devices. The software developer can generate a natural language grammar by providing typical or example spoken responses. The grammar is automatically enhanced to increase the number of recognizable words or phrases. The example responses provided by the software developer are further used to automatically build application-specific help.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2001
    Publication date: June 20, 2002
    Inventors: Andrew Fox, Bin Liu, Michael Tinglof, Tim F. Rochford, Toffee A. Albina, Lorin Wilde, Jeffrey M. Hill
  • Patent number: 6212498
    Abstract: Enrolling a user in a speech recognition system includes analyzing acoustic content of a user utterance and determining whether the utterance matches a portion of an enrollment text. If the user utterance matches a portion of the enrollment text, the acoustic content is used to update acoustic models corresponding to the portion of the enrollment text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: Dragon Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Stefan Sherwood, Toffee A. Albina, David E. Wald, Noah M. Graham, Joel Gould, Francesco Scattone
  • Patent number: 6163768
    Abstract: A computer enrolls a user in a speech recognition system by obtaining data representing a user's speech, the speech including multiple user utterances and generally corresponding to an enrollment text, and analyzing acoustic content of data corresponding to a user utterance. The computer determines, based on the analysis, whether the user utterance matches a portion of the enrollment text. If so, the computer uses the acoustic content of the user utterance to update acoustic models corresponding to the portion of the enrollment text. The computer may determine that the user utterance matches a portion of the enrollment text even when the user has skipped or repeated words of the enrollment text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2000
    Assignee: Dragon Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Stefan Sherwood, David Wilsberg Parmenter, Joel M. Gould, Toffee A. Albina, Allan Gold