ENHANCED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PLANNING AND CONTROLLING FOR ROBOTIC DEVICES
A system for planning and controlling missions for robotic devices, comprising a mission control computer and a plurality of robotic devices, wherein the mission control computer operates mission control software comprising at least a plurality of software modules adapted to receive, process, and transmit programming instructions for robotic devices via a network, and methods for planning and controlling a mission for robotic devices.
This application claims the benefit of, and priority to, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/972,201, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PLANNING AND CONTROLLING MISSIONS BY ROBOTIC DEVICES”, filed on Mar. 28, 2014, the entire specification of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Art
The invention relates generally to the field of robotics, and more particularly to the field of remote control and management of robotic devices.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
In the field of robotics, it is a common practice to utilize manual control of robotic devices, both for professional as well as recreational uses (such as remote-controlled drones for geographic surveillance, patrolling secure areas, or filming recreational activities, for example). Often, robotic devices are fully manually-controlled and will not perform functions without direct input from a human user, and in instances where a degree of automation is utilized it is primarily for simplification of basic processes such as takeoff or landing of aerial robotic devices (generally for the purpose of aiding an inexperienced user in operation without risking damage to the device).
What is needed, is a way to provide parameters for semi-automated operation of more complex robotic functions, by defining “missions” that dictate tasks for execution, parameters for behavior, or areas for operation of a robotic device. Additionally, missions should be optionally interactive as needed, wherein a robotic device may actively receive and transmit information in a two-way communication with a mission control computer operated by a user, so that a mission may be updated, altered, or aborted as needed during execution.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, the inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system and method for planning and controlling missions for robotic devices.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system for planning and controlling missions for robotic devices, comprising a mission control computer comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory operated by a network-connected computing device and adapted to receive sensor information from a robotic device via a data communication network and to send mission instructions to a robotic device via a data communication network, the mission instructions comprising at least a plurality of programming instructions to be executed by a processor operated by the robotic device; and a plurality of robotic devices each comprising at least a set of programming instructions stored in a memory operated by a network-connected computing device and adapted to process sensor data and mission instructions, a plurality of hardware sensor devices adapted to produce sensor data based on observation of the environment around the robotic device, and a processor adapted to execute programming instructions, wherein the mission control computer operates at least a mission control software comprising at least a plurality of software modules each comprising a plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory and adapted to receive, process, and transmit programming instructions for robotic devices via a network, is disclosed.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, a method for planning missions for robotic devices, comprising the steps of loading, at a mission control computer, external data for a mission; defining a range for a robotic device to operate during a mission; defining mission parameters for a robotic device to follow; defining mission tasks for a robotic device to perform; and launching the mission, is disclosed.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, a method for controlling execution of a mission for robotic devices, comprising the steps of performing, on a robotic device, a self-test operation; receiving instructions for a mission; performing tasks according to the mission instructions; measuring results of the mission tasks; transmitting the results to a mission control computer; and ending the mission, is disclosed.
The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention according to the embodiments. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the particular embodiments illustrated in the drawings are merely exemplary, and are not to be considered as limiting of the scope of the invention or the claims herein in any way.
The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system and method for planning and controlling missions for robotic devices.
One or more different inventions may be described in the present application. Further, for one or more of the inventions described herein, numerous alternative embodiments may be described; it should be appreciated that these are presented for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting of the inventions contained herein or the claims presented herein in any way. One or more of the inventions may be widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as may be readily apparent from the disclosure. In general, embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of the inventions, and it should be appreciated that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the particular inventions. Accordingly, one skilled in the art will recognize that one or more of the inventions may be practiced with various modifications and alterations. Particular features of one or more of the inventions described herein may be described with reference to one or more particular embodiments or figures that form a part of the present disclosure, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments of one or more of the inventions. It should be appreciated, however, that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or figures with reference to which they are described. The present disclosure is neither a literal description of all embodiments of one or more of the inventions nor a listing of features of one or more of the inventions that must be present in all embodiments.
Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the title of this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way.
Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more communication means or intermediaries, logical or physical.
A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. To the contrary, a variety of optional components may be described to illustrate a wide variety of possible embodiments of one or more of the inventions and in order to more fully illustrate one or more aspects of the inventions. Similarly, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods and algorithms may generally be configured to work in alternate orders, unless specifically stated to the contrary. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described in this patent application does not, in and of itself, indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of described processes may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to one or more of the invention(s), and does not imply that the illustrated process is preferred. Also, steps are generally described once per embodiment, but this does not mean they must occur once, or that they may only occur once each time a process, method, or algorithm is carried out or executed. Some steps may be omitted in some embodiments or some occurrences, or some steps may be executed more than once in a given embodiment or occurrence.
When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of a single device or article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a single device or article may be used in place of the more than one device or article.
The functionality or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly described as having such functionality or features. Thus, other embodiments of one or more of the inventions need not include the device itself.
Techniques and mechanisms described or referenced herein will sometimes be described in singular form for clarity. However, it should be appreciated that particular embodiments may include multiple iterations of a technique or multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless noted otherwise. Process descriptions or blocks in figures should be understood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the scope of embodiments of the present invention in which, for example, functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art.
Hardware ArchitectureGenerally, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented on hardware or a combination of software and hardware. For example, they may be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate user process, in a library package bound into network applications, on a specially constructed machine, on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or on a network interface card.
Software/hardware hybrid implementations of at least some of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on a programmable network-resident machine (which should be understood to include intermittently connected network-aware machines) selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in memory. Such network devices may have multiple network interfaces that may be configured or designed to utilize different types of network communication protocols. A general architecture for some of these machines may be described herein in order to illustrate one or more exemplary means by which a given unit of functionality may be implemented. According to specific embodiments, at least some of the features or functionalities of the various embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on one or more general-purpose computers associated with one or more networks, such as for example an end-user computer system, a client computer, a network server or other server system, a mobile computing device (e.g., tablet computing device, mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, or other appropriate computing device), a consumer electronic device, a music player, or any other suitable electronic device, router, switch, or other suitable device, or any combination thereof. In at least some embodiments, at least some of the features or functionalities of the various embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in one or more virtualized computing environments (e.g., network computing clouds, virtual machines hosted on one or more physical computing machines, or other appropriate virtual environments).
Referring now to
In one embodiment, computing device 100 includes one or more central processing units (CPU) 102, one or more interfaces 110, and one or more busses 106 (such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). When acting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU 102 may be responsible for implementing specific functions associated with the functions of a specifically configured computing device or machine. For example, in at least one embodiment, a computing device 100 may be configured or designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU 102, local memory 101 and/or remote memory 120, and interface(s) 110. In at least one embodiment, CPU 102 may be caused to perform one or more of the different types of functions and/or operations under the control of software modules or components, which for example, may include an operating system and any appropriate applications software, drivers, and the like.
CPU 102 may include one or more processors 103 such as, for example, a processor from one of the Intel, ARM, Qualcomm, and AMD families of microprocessors. In some embodiments, processors 103 may include specially designed hardware such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and so forth, for controlling operations of computing device 100. In a specific embodiment, a local memory 101 (such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM) and/or read-only memory (ROM), including for example one or more levels of cached memory) may also form part of CPU 102. However, there are many different ways in which memory may be coupled to system 100. Memory 101 may be used for a variety of purposes such as, for example, caching and/or storing data, programming instructions, and the like. It should be further appreciated that CPU 102 may be one of a variety of system-on-a-chip (SOC) type hardware that may include additional hardware such as memory or graphics processing chips, such as a Qualcomm SNAPDRAGON™ or Samsung EXYNOS™ CPU as are becoming increasingly common in the art, such as for use in mobile devices or integrated devices.
As used herein, the term “processor” is not limited merely to those integrated circuits referred to in the art as a processor, a mobile processor, or a microprocessor, but broadly refers to a microcontroller, a microcomputer, a programmable logic controller, an application-specific integrated circuit, and any other programmable circuit.
In one embodiment, interfaces 110 are provided as network interface cards (NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of data packets over a computer network; other types of interfaces 110 may for example support other peripherals used with computing device 100. Among the interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces, graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types of interfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus (USB), Serial, Ethernet, FIREWIRE™, THUNDERBOLT™, PCI, parallel, radio frequency (RF), BLUETOOTH™, near-field communications (e.g., using near-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fast Ethernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, Serial ATA (SATA) or external SATA (ESATA) interfaces, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), digital visual interface (DVI), analog or digital audio interfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speed serial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces, fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, such interfaces 110 may include physical ports appropriate for communication with appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include an independent processor (such as a dedicated audio or video processor, as is common in the art for high-fidelity A/V hardware interfaces) and, in some instances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM).
Although the system shown in
Regardless of network device configuration, the system of the present invention may employ one or more memories or memory modules (such as, for example, remote memory block 120 and local memory 101) configured to store data, program instructions for the general-purpose network operations, or other information relating to the functionality of the embodiments described herein (or any combinations of the above). Program instructions may control execution of or comprise an operating system and/or one or more applications, for example. Memory 120 or memories 101, 120 may also be configured to store data structures, configuration data, encryption data, historical system operations information, or any other specific or generic non-program information described herein.
Because such information and program instructions may be employed to implement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least some network device embodiments may include nontransitory machine-readable storage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed to store program instructions, state information, and the like for performing various operations described herein. Examples of such nontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as optical disks, and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory devices (ROM), flash memory (as is common in mobile devices and integrated systems), solid state drives (SSD) and “hybrid SSD” storage drives that may combine physical components of solid state and hard disk drives in a single hardware device (as are becoming increasingly common in the art with regard to personal computers), memristor memory, random access memory (RAM), and the like. It should be appreciated that such storage means may be integral and non-removable (such as RAM hardware modules that may be soldered onto a motherboard or otherwise integrated into an electronic device), or they may be removable such as swappable flash memory modules (such as “thumb drives” or other removable media designed for rapidly exchanging physical storage devices), “hot-swappable” hard disk drives or solid state drives, removable optical storage discs, or other such removable media, and that such integral and removable storage media may be utilized interchangeably. Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as may be produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by an assembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by for example a Java™ compiler and may be executed using a Java virtual machine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scripts written in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language).
In some embodiments, systems according to the present invention may be implemented on a standalone computing system. Referring now to
In some embodiments, systems of the present invention may be implemented on a distributed computing network, such as one having any number of clients and/or servers. Referring now to
In addition, in some embodiments, servers 320 may call external services 370 when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer to additional data concerning a particular call. Communications with external services 370 may take place, for example, via one or more networks 310. In various embodiments, external services 370 may comprise web-enabled services or functionality related to or installed on the hardware device itself. For example, in an embodiment where client applications 230 are implemented on a smartphone or other electronic device, client applications 230 may obtain information stored in a server system 320 in the cloud or on an external service 370 deployed on one or more of a particular enterprise's or user's premises.
In some embodiments of the invention, clients 330 or servers 320 (or both) may make use of one or more specialized services or appliances that may be deployed locally or remotely across one or more networks 310. For example, one or more databases 340 may be used or referred to by one or more embodiments of the invention. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that databases 340 may be arranged in a wide variety of architectures and using a wide variety of data access and manipulation means. For example, in various embodiments one or more databases 340 may comprise a relational database system using a structured query language (SQL), while others may comprise an alternative data storage technology such as those referred to in the art as “NoSQL” (for example, Hadoop Cassandra, Google BigTable, and so forth). In some embodiments, variant database architectures such as column-oriented databases, in-memory databases, clustered databases, distributed databases, or even flat file data repositories may be used according to the invention. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that any combination of known or future database technologies may be used as appropriate, unless a specific database technology or a specific arrangement of components is specified for a particular embodiment herein. Moreover, it should be appreciated that the term “database” as used herein may refer to a physical database machine, a cluster of machines acting as a single database system, or a logical database within an overall database management system. Unless a specific meaning is specified for a given use of the term “database”, it should be construed to mean any of these senses of the word, all of which are understood as a plain meaning of the term “database” by those having ordinary skill in the art.
Similarly, most embodiments of the invention may make use of one or more security systems 360 and configuration systems 350. Security and configuration management are common information technology (IT) and web functions, and some amount of each are generally associated with any IT or web systems. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that any configuration or security subsystems known in the art now or in the future may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the invention without limitation, unless a specific security 360 or configuration system 350 or approach is specifically required by the description of any specific embodiment.
In various embodiments, functionality for implementing systems or methods of the present invention may be distributed among any number of client and/or server components. For example, various software modules may be implemented for performing various functions in connection with the present invention, and such modules may be variously implemented to run on server and/or client components.
Conceptual ArchitectureIt is clear that many modifications and variations of the system and method disclosed herein may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the novel art of this disclosure.
In some cases, the system may be used for planning missions by semi-autonomous vehicles, with each vehicle connected to a computer that sets parameters for each mission, such as starting position, ending position, average distance from structure, average speed, pass separation, distance between passes for longer-range sensors, type of vehicle, maximum altitude, movement range and time, acceleration vectors, and braking vectors. For a mission, the computer draws from a data repository a file containing a rough layout and a file giving the vehicles' capabilities. The computer, as part of the mission planning, may generate an initial 3-D file to build an internal model of a structure and establish whether the vehicles can make clear movement passes around the solid parts of the structure. Additionally, the computer prompts the user to create obstruction zones as required for safety around such obstacles as power lines, cranes, construction superstructures, etc. The computer then processes the 3-D file to determine mission feasibility, based on the capabilities of vehicles. Subsequently, the 3-D file is processed again, using corrected and smoothed input data to create a series of waypoints at the desired resolution (i.e., one per meter, 10 per meter, etc.), with each waypoint an absolute location (as best determined by available data). In addition, the file may contain a 3-D heading and speed vector structure and a relative timestamp.
These modifications and variations do not depart from its broader spirit and scope, and the examples cited here are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof. Methods of the present disclosure can be implemented via a computer program instructions stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices for execution by a processor. Likewise, various processes (or portions thereof) of the present disclosure may be performed by a processor executing computer program instructions. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented via one or more computer programs that are executable on a computer system including at least one processor coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a data storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. Each computer program can be implemented in any suitable manner, including via a high-level procedural or object-oriented programming language and/or via assembly or machine language. Systems of the present disclosure may include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors which may retrieve instructions and data to and from various types of volatile and/or non-volatile memory. Computer systems operating in conjunction with the embodiments of the present disclosure may include one or more mass storage devices for storing data files, which may include: magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and optical disks. Storage devices suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructions and data (also called the “non-transitory computer-readable storage media”) include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM disks. Any of the foregoing can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) and other forms of hardware.
Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These and other changes or modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.
The above examples of the present invention are used only as illustrations and in no way limit the scope of the patent claims that are presented below.
The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications of the various embodiments described above. Accordingly, the present invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A system for planning and controlling missions for robotic devices, comprising:
- a mission control computer comprising at least a first memory, a first processor and a first set of programming instructions stored in the first memory and operating on the first processor; and
- a plurality of robotic devices each comprising at least a second memory, a second processor and a second set of programming instructions stored in the second memory and operating on the second processor, and each robotic device further comprising a plurality of hardware sensor devices adapted to produce sensor data based on observation of an environment around the respective robotic device;
- wherein the mission control computer receives sensor information from a first robotic device via a data communication network and sends mission instructions to the first robotic device via the data communication network, the mission instructions determined by the first set of programmable instructions and comprising at least a third set of programming instructions to be executed by the second processor operating on the robotic device;
- further wherein the mission control computer comprises, as a subset of the first set of programmable instructions, a mission control software comprising at least a plurality of software modules adapted to receive, process, and transmit programming instructions for robotic devices via a network.
2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a database that stores sensor data for future reference.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the software modules comprise at least a desktop planning module that provides an interactive user interface that receives user input and transmits programming instructions for robotic devices based at least in part on at least a portion of the user input.
4. A method for planning missions for robotic devices, comprising the steps of:
- loading, at a mission control computer comprising at least a first memory, a first processor and a first set of programming instructions stored in the first memory and operating on the first processor, external data for a mission;
- defining a range for a robotic device comprising at least a second memory, a second processor and a second set of programming instructions stored in the second memory and operating on the second processor, to operate during a mission;
- defining, using a mission control software that is a subset of the first set of programmable instructions and that comprises at least a plurality of software modules adapted to receive, process, and transmit programming instructions for robotic devices via a network mission parameters for the robotic device to follow;
- defining, using the mission control software, mission tasks for a robotic device to perform; and
- launching the mission.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of grouping mission tasks into sections for a robotic device to perform sets of tasks according to the assigned mission section.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the external data comprises at least stored data relevant to a mission.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the stored data comprises at least a plurality of CAD data.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the stored data comprises at least a two-dimensional image.
9. A method for controlling execution of a mission for robotic devices, comprising the steps of:
- performing, on a robotic device comprising at least a second memory, a second processor and a second set of programming instructions stored in the second memory and operating on the second processor, a self-test operation;
- receiving instructions at the robotic device for a mission via a data communications network;
- performing tasks according to the mission instructions;
- measuring, using sensors resident on the robotic device, results of the mission tasks;
- transmitting the resulting measurements to a mission control computer comprising at least a first memory, a first processor and a first set of programming instructions stored in the first memory and operating on the first processor; and
- ending the mission.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of receiving additional mission instructions from a mission control computer.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the additional mission instructions are based at least in part on the transmitted results.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 30, 2015
Publication Date: Oct 8, 2015
Inventor: Adam Cohen (Oakland, CA)
Application Number: 14/673,756