G05D1/0238

DRIVERLESS TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR TRANSPORTING OBJECTS, AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A DRIVERLESS TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR TRANSPORTING OBJECTS
20230026975 · 2023-01-26 ·

The present invention relates to a driverless transport system (81), comprising a plurality of driverless transport devices (10) having a support structure (12) with an outer contour (14); an undercarriage (16) which is secured to the support structure (12) and has at least one first wheel (18) and a second wheel (20), wherein the first wheel (18) is mounted in the undercarriage (16) so as to rotate about a first axis of rotation (D1) and the second wheel (20) is mounted in the undercarriage (16) so as to rotate about a second axis of rotation (D1); a drive unit (22) by means of which the first wheel (18) and the second wheel (20) can be driven independently of each other; a control unit (94) for controlling or regulating the driverless transport devices (10); and a communication device (76) by means of which information can be exchanged between the control unit (94) and the driverless transport devices (10), wherein one of the driverless transport devices (10) is designed as a master (86) and the other driverless transport devices (10) are designed as slaves (88).

A REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE WITH AN ARRANGEMENT TO PROVIDE A PRE-ALERT AND TRACKING OF A POSITION OF THE VEHICLE

A remotely operated vehicle includes an arrangement to provide a pre-alert and tracking of a position of the vehicle following a travelling route relative to tracks laid out on rails in x-, y-directions on a rail system. The vehicle has first and seconds sets of wheels connected to drives for moving the vehicle in corresponding x-, y-directions on the rail system. The arrangement includes at least one sensor module provided with at least four sensors. A first sensor is directed vertically downwards to detect the rails in the x-direction on the sensor module. A second sensor is directed vertically downwards to detect the rails in the y-direction on the sensor module. A third sensor is positioned on the sensor module to detect a corner of an intersection between the rails in the x-direction and y-direction. A fourth sensor is configured to detect a remaining distance to the arrival of the vehicle at a set position, by detecting the rails in the x direction when travelling in the y direction, and detecting the rail in the y direction when travelling in the x direction. The fourth sensor is placed at a predefined position on the sensor module. A controller is provided on the vehicle to receive the output from at least one of the sensors and to pre-alert the remaining distance of the arrival of the vehicle at the position.

AUTONOMOUS TRAVELING BODY
20230023551 · 2023-01-26 ·

An autonomous traveling body includes a vehicle body, a mover, an obstacle detector, a traveling controller, and a storage. The mover causes the vehicle body to travel. The traveling controller controls the mover based on a detection result of the obstacle by the obstacle detector. The storage stores an obstacle detection area around the vehicle body. The obstacle detection area includes a stop area having a predetermined width with the traveling direction of the vehicle body as an axis, and first and second deceleration areas excluding the stop area. When at least a portion of the obstacle is included in the stop area, the traveling controller stops the vehicle body. When at least a portion of the obstacle is included in the first deceleration area or the second deceleration area, the traveling controller reduces the traveling speed of the vehicle body.

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OBSTACLE DETECTION

A vehicle control system for an agricultural vehicle including a processing circuit including a processor and memory, the memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processing circuit to receive (i) image data depicting at least a portion of a hazard area associated with the agricultural vehicle and (ii) ultrasonic sensor data from an ultrasonic sensor monitoring the hazard area, determine, based on a combination of the image data and the ultrasonic sensor data, whether an obstacle is positioned at least partially within the hazard area, and perform an action with respect to the agricultural vehicle in response to a determination that the obstacle is positioned at least partially within the hazard area.

ROBOT CLEANER AND ROBOT CLEANER CONTROL METHOD
20230225580 · 2023-07-20 ·

Provided are a robot cleaner including: a drive part configured to apply a driving force required to drive the robot cleaner; a sensor configured to obtain at least one of information about a travel state of the robot cleaner and information about surroundings of the robot cleaner; and a controller configured to determine at least one reference trajectory on a coordinate system of a cleaning area, and to compensate for a degree to which the robot cleaner is spaced apart from the reference trajectories based on at least one of a position and an direction of the robot cleaner, which are determined based on the at least one information obtained by the sensor, and a method for controlling a travel of the robot cleaner.

Robotic cleaner having distance sensors for use in estimating a velocity of the robotic cleaner
11561550 · 2023-01-24 · ·

A robotic cleaner may include a body, one or more driven wheels configured to urge the body across a surface to be cleaned, one or more distance sensors disposed at least partially within the body such that the one or more distance sensors face the surface to be cleaned and a processor. The one or more distance sensors may be configured to output a measure of a detection distance that extends in a direction of the surface to be cleaned. The processor may be configured to determine whether an abnormality has been detected based, at least in part, on the measure of the detection distance and may be configured to determine a first velocity estimate based, at least in part, on the detection of the abnormality.

Systems and methods for collision avoidance by autonomous vehicles

Systems for collision avoidance by an autonomous vehicle include a navigational controller adapted to (i) control a driving path of the autonomous vehicle, (ii) process sensor signals from a first sensor system, and (iii) determine whether an object is present in the driving path of the autonomous vehicle based on the sensor signals from the first sensor system. The systems can also include a processor, operationally independent from the navigational controller, adapted to (a) process sensor signals from a second sensor system and (b) determine whether an object is present in the driving path of the autonomous vehicle based on the sensor signals from the second sensor system.

Multi-model switching on a collision mitigation system

Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes receiving data indicative of an operating mode of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is configured to operate in a plurality of operating modes. The method includes determining one or more response characteristics of the vehicle based at least in part on the operating mode of the vehicle, each response characteristic indicating how the vehicle responds to a potential collision. The method includes controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics.

Method of sensing loaded state and robot implementing thereof

A method of sensing a loaded state of articles in a storage bin and a robot implementing the method are provided. The robot senses a loaded state of articles received in the storage bin in real time or at regular intervals and includes the storage bin and storage bin sensors disposed outside the storage bin. The storage bin sensors are arranged at a non-parallel angle relative to a side surface of the storage bin.

Occupancy grid movie system

Various technologies described herein pertain to generating an occupancy grid movie for utilization in motion planning for the autonomous vehicle. The occupancy grid movie can be generated for a given time and can include time-stepped occupancy grids for future times that are at predefined time intervals from the given time. The time-stepped occupancy grids include cells corresponding to regions in an environment surrounding the autonomous vehicle. Probabilities can be assigned to the cells specifying likelihoods that the regions corresponding to the cells are occupied at the future times. Moreover, cached query objects that respectively specify indices of cells of a grid occupied by a representation of an autonomous vehicle at corresponding orientations are described herein. An occupancy grid for the environment surrounding the autonomous vehicle can be queried to determine whether cells of the occupancy grid are occupied utilizing a cached query object from the cache query objects.