Patents by Inventor Tomoya FUKUKAWA

Tomoya FUKUKAWA 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: 11891159
    Abstract: The present invention provides an unmanned watercraft capable of sufficiently cooling equipment that generates a large amount of heat, capable of cooling such equipment without using energy in the watercraft, and capable of improving mean time between failures (MTBF) of a cooling device. An unmanned watercraft 1 has a cooling structure CS for cooling a central processing unit CPU1 for image recognition and a central processing unit CPU2 for control that constitute a central processing unit CPU as a heat-generating body. The cooling structure CS includes a waterproof container 7 that accommodates the heat-generating body (an insulating envelope that surrounds the heat-generating body in an electrically insulated state). The waterproof container 7 is arranged outside a submerged part 3 of the unmanned watercraft 1 so as to be in contact with water present outside the unmanned watercraft 1, the submerged part 3 being submerged in water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yoshida, Tadahiro Hyakudome, Ryotaro Suga, Takashi Yoshioka, Hisashi Sugiura, Hideki Endou, Yasuhiro Ueda, Yuichiro Dake, Tomoya Fukukawa, Ryuji Nakazono
  • Publication number: 20230144543
    Abstract: The present disclosure includes a radar configured to detect surrounding objects and terrain, and a LIDAR configured to detect the surrounding objects and terrain using a narrower detection range and a higher resolution than the radar. The disclosure also includes a first map, such as a wide-area map, generated based on information about the surrounding as detected by the radar, a second map, such as a high-resolution map, based on information about the surroundings as detected by the LIDAR, and a composite map that has the grid width of the first map and the grid width of the second map.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2021
    Publication date: May 11, 2023
    Applicant: Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichiro DAKE, Isao WAKABAYASHI, Naohiro HARA, Tomoya FUKUKAWA, Toshiyuki YOKOUE, Satoshi MINAMIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20220028278
    Abstract: According to the present invention, a route controller generates a route that makes a ship dock at a berthing facility. The route includes a first location and a second location (P2). The first location is a via point that is offset a prescribed distance in a direction that is orthogonal to the direction in which the berthing facility is oriented from a docking point for the ship at the berthing facility. The second location is the docking point for the ship at the berthing facility. The first location is immediately before the second location in the sequence to be realized by the ship. The route is generated such that the ship remains oriented in the direction in which the berthing facility is oriented as the ship moves from the first location to the second location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Applicant: Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naohiro Hara, Tomoya Fukukawa, Yuichiro Dake
  • Publication number: 20220001970
    Abstract: A control target controller generates control targets in accordance with a route, the control targets being for controlling the location and orientation of a ship. The route has a plurality of via points. Each of the via points has information about a target location and a target orientation for the ship. The route is made up of a plurality of partial routes that sequentially connect the target locations of the via points. The control target controller comprises a transit target point generation part and an arrival determination part. The transit target point generation part can generate, as control targets, transit target points that are in the middle of the partial routes and have information about a target location and a target orientation for the ship. On the basis of the current location and the current orientation of the ship, the arrival determination part determines whether the ship has arrived at the transit target points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Applicant: Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naohiro Hara, Tomoya Fukukawa, Yuichiro Dake
  • Publication number: 20210347449
    Abstract: A LiDAR included in this automatic docking device measures the distance to a surrounding object at each predetermined angle by irradiating the object with light and receiving the light reflected by the object. When a ship offshore is instructed to perform automatic docking, the ship navigates to some extent by automatic navigation based on satellite positioning, and is then switched to automatic navigation based on the LiDAR. Before switching to the automatic navigation based on the LiDAR, the LiDAR performs preparatory measurement for measuring the distance to an object around a docking position. In this preparatory measurement, a control unit controls to change, for example, the orientation of the ship such that light emitted from the LiDAR can be reflected by the object around the docking position and can be received by the LiDAR.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Publication date: November 11, 2021
    Applicant: Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichiro Dake, Naohiro Hara, Tomoya Fukukawa, Toshiyuki Yokoue, Yasuhiro Ueda
  • Publication number: 20200391839
    Abstract: The present invention provides an unmanned watercraft capable of sufficiently cooling equipment that generates a large amount of heat, capable of cooling such equipment without using energy in the watercraft, and capable of improving mean time between failures (MTBF) of a cooling device. An unmanned watercraft 1 has a cooling structure CS for cooling a central processing unit CPU1 for image recognition and a central processing unit CPU2 for control that constitute a central processing unit CPU as a heat-generating body. The cooling structure CS includes a waterproof container 7 that accommodates the heat-generating body (an insulating envelope that surrounds the heat-generating body in an electrically insulated state). The waterproof container 7 is arranged outside a submerged part 3 of the unmanned watercraft 1 so as to be in contact with water present outside the unmanned watercraft 1, the submerged part 3 being submerged in water.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Publication date: December 17, 2020
    Applicants: Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd., c/o Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yoshida, Tadahiro Hyakudomne, Ryotaro Suga, Takashi Yoshioka, Hisashi Sugiura, Hideki Endou, Yasuhiro Ueda, Yuichiro Dake, Tomoya Fukukawa, Ryuji Nakazono
  • Patent number: 10274963
    Abstract: A mowing vehicle provided with a traveling machine and a mowing device includes a first image-capturing device and a controlling unit configured to control the traveling machine to travel autonomously along a boundary line of grass before and after mowing formed by the mowing device. The controlling unit includes a boundary-detecting unit configured to detect the boundary line and a traveling-controlling unit configured to control traveling directions of the traveling machine. The boundary-detecting unit is configured to generate intensity distribution information regarding texture information in a predetermined direction by filtering with a Gabor filter on a captured image. The boundary-detecting unit is configured to carry out statistical processing on the intensity distribution information per inspection area divided in plural in a vertical direction so as to detect boundary points and to detect the boundary line from the boundary points per the inspection area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: YANMAR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshio Fukuda, Kosuke Sekiyama, Yasuhisa Hasegawa, Tomoya Fukukawa, Toshifumi Hiramatsu
  • Publication number: 20170322559
    Abstract: A mowing vehicle 1 provided with a traveling machine 10 and a mowing device 20 includes a first image-capturing device 30 and a controlling unit C configured to control the traveling machine 10 to travel autonomously along a boundary line of grass before and after mowing formed by the mowing device 20. The controlling unit C includes a boundary-detecting unit C2 configured to detect the boundary line and a traveling-controlling unit C3 configured to control traveling directions of the traveling machine 10. The boundary-detecting unit C2 is configured to generate intensity distribution information regarding texture information in a predetermined direction by filtering with a Gabor filter on a captured image. The boundary-detecting unit C2 is configured to carry out statistical processing on the intensity distribution information per inspection area divided in plural in a vertical direction so as to detect boundary points and to detect the boundary line from the boundary points per the inspection area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2015
    Publication date: November 9, 2017
    Applicant: YANMAR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshio FUKUDA, Kosuke SEKIYAMA, Yasuhisa HASEGAWA, Tomoya FUKUKAWA, Toshifumi HIRAMATSU