The present invention relates to a robotic vehicle operated to move along a path, where the vehicle could be for mowing the lawn or for agricultural purposes having an operational part operating on an irregular surface. The control of the vehicle includes safety means to check that the vehicle seems to have left its path unintended.

A robotic trolley collection system and methods for automatically collecting baggage/luggage trolleys are provided. The system includes a differential-driven mobile base; a manipulator mounted on the differential-driven mobile base for forking a trolley, having a structure same as a head portion of the trolley; a sensory and measurement assembly for providing sensing and measurement dataflow; and a main processing case for processing the sensing and measurement dataflow provided by the sensory and measurement assembly and for controlling the differential-driven mobile base, the manipulator, and the sensory and measurement assembly. The method includes localizing and mapping the robotic trolley collection system; detecting an idle trolley to be collected and estimating pose of the idle trolley; visually servoing control of the robotic trolley collection system; and issuing motion control commands to the robotic trolley collection system for automatically collecting the idle trolley.

Methods are described that perform a dispatched consumer-to-store return or swap logistics operation for an item being replaced using a modular autonomous bot apparatus assembly and a dispatch server. The method begins with receiving a return operation dispatch command that includes identifier information, transport parameters, and designated pickup information for the item being replaced/returned, along with authentication information related to an authorized supplier of the item being replaced. Modular components of the bot apparatus are verified to be compatible with the dispatched logistics operation. The MAM then autonomously causes the bot apparatus to move to the designated pickup location, notifies the authorized supplier of an approaching pickup, receives supplier authorization input to permissively allow access to a payload area within the bot apparatus, monitors loading as the item being replaced is received along with return documentation, and then autonomously causes movement of the bot apparatus back to the origin location.

A system may be configured to detect an obstruction on sensor at least partially obstructing or distorting a portion of the field of view of the sensor. The system may also be configured to mitigate the effects of the obstruction or at least partially remove the obstruction from the sensor. The system may be configured to receive one or more signals from a sensor configured to generate signals indicative of an environment, which may include one or more objects, in which the sensor is present. The system may be configured to determine, for example, classify, based at least in part on the one or more signals, an obstruction or distortion on a surface of the sensor, and initiate a response, based at least in part on the determination, to mitigate effects of the obstruction and/or at least partially remove the obstruction.

In various examples, a current claimed set of points representative of a volume in an environment occupied by a vehicle at a time may be determined. A vehicle-occupied trajectory and at least one object-occupied trajectory may be generated at the time. An intersection between the vehicle-occupied trajectory and an object-occupied trajectory may be determined based at least in part on comparing the vehicle-occupied trajectory to the object-occupied trajectory. Based on the intersection, the vehicle may then execute the first safety procedure or an alternative procedure that, when implemented by the vehicle when the object implements the second safety procedure, is determined to have a lesser likelihood of incurring a collision between the vehicle and the object than the first safety procedure.

Lighting control systems may be commissioned for programming and/or control with the aid of an autonomous mobile device. Design software may be used to create a floor plan of how the lighting control system may be designed. The design software may generate floor plan identifiers for each lighting fixture, or group of lighting fixtures. During commissioning of the lighting control system, the autonomous mobile device may be used to help identify the lighting devices that have been installed in the physical space. The autonomous mobile device may receive a communication from each lighting control device that indicates a unique identifier of the lighting control device. The unique identifier may be communicated by visible light communication (VLC) or RF communication. The unique identifier may be associated with the floor plan identifier for communication of digital messages to lighting fixtures installed in the locations indicated in the floor plan identifier.

In various examples, a current claimed set of points representative of a volume in an environment occupied by a vehicle at a time may be determined. A vehicle-occupied trajectory and at least one object-occupied trajectory may be generated at the time. An intersection between the vehicle-occupied trajectory and an object-occupied trajectory may be determined based at least in part on comparing the vehicle-occupied trajectory to the object-occupied trajectory. Based on the intersection, the vehicle may then execute the first safety procedure or an alternative procedure that, when implemented by the vehicle when the object implements the second safety procedure, is determined to have a lesser likelihood of incurring a collision between the vehicle and the object than the first safety procedure.

A self-propelled device can include at least a wireless interface, a housing, a propulsion mechanism, and a camera. Using the camera, the self-propelled device can generate a video feed and transmit the video feed to a controller device via the wireless interface. The self-propelled device can receive an input from the controller device indicating an object or location in the video feed. In response to the input, the self-propelled device can initiate an autonomous mode to autonomously operate the propulsion mechanism to propel the self-propelled device towards the object or location indicated in the video feed.

Sensor data collected from an autonomous vehicle data can be labeled using sensor data collected from an additional vehicle. The additional vehicle can include a non-autonomous vehicle mounted with a removable hardware pod. In many implementations, removable hardware pods can be vehicle agnostic. In many implementations, generated labels can be utilized to train a machine learning model which can generate one or more control signals for the autonomous vehicle.

Provided is a mobile robot that moves autonomously over a floor covered by a carpet, the mobile robot including an acceleration sensor that measures a translational acceleration of the mobile robot, an estimation unit that estimates an inclination of a pile of the carpet on a basis of the translational acceleration measured by the acceleration sensor while the mobile robot is accelerating or decelerating, and a movement control unit that controls a movement velocity and a movement direction of the mobile robot on a basis of the inclination of the pile estimated by the estimation unit.