The present disclosure provides is a method and device for accurately estimating a pose of a charging socket of an electric vehicle regardless of a shape of the charging socket, so that an electric vehicle charging robot may precisely move a charging connector toward the charging socket of the electric vehicle and couple the charging connector to the charging socket. According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, a method of estimating the pose of the charging socket of an electric vehicle includes: acquiring an RGB image and a depth map of the charging socket; detecting a keypoint of the charging socket based on the RGB image; deriving a first estimated pose of the charging socket based on the depth map; and deriving a second estimated pose of the charging socket based on the keypoint of the charging socket and the first estimated pose.

An automated electric vehicle charging station. The charging station can include a frame to which a vehicle can park in proximity to receive an electric charge. The frame is at least partially underneath the vehicle. The charging station can include an alignment indicator and a charging indicator to alert an occupant of the vehicle to a vehicle alignment status and a vehicle charging status. When the vehicle is parked in a charging position, an electronic charging unit automatically determines a receiving location on the vehicle where the vehicle can receive an electric charge. A charging plug can be stored in the frame and can be actuated out of the frame and travel in multiple directions to the receiving location. Electric charge can then be transferred from the charging plug to the vehicle. When the vehicle is finished charging, the charging plug can be actuated to return to the frame.

An external electric vehicle battery thermal management system is described. An electric vehicle thermal system provides external coolant to an internal battery thermal system of an electric vehicle. The internal battery thermal system includes a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger to cool or warm the set of batteries of the electric vehicle. The external coolant is pumped through a first side of the heat exchanger and serves as the source to cool or heat internal coolant pumped through a second side of the heat exchanger. The external coolant and the internal coolant do not mix.

An individualized vehicular charging mat includes a body defining two tire channels terminating at respective channel ends, and a wireless charging element arranged within or on top of the body. The two tire channels include respective entrances at a side edge of the body, and are separated by a track width for a particular vehicle make, model and model year(s). The wireless charging element is arranged at a location where the wireless charging element is configured to optimally charge a vehicle of the particular vehicle make, model and model year(s) when tires of the vehicle come to rest at the channel ends.

In exemplary embodiments, methods and systems are provided for determining vehicle events. In an exemplary embodiment, a system is provided that includes: one or more cameras onboard a vehicle that are configured to generate camera data; and a processor that is coupled to the one or more cameras and configured to at least facilitate: identifying a change in position of one or more objects of the camera data using the camera data; and determining that a vehicle event has occurred, based on the change in position of the one or more objects of the camera data.

In exemplary embodiments, methods and systems are provided for determining vehicle events. In an exemplary embodiment, a system is provided that includes: one or more cameras onboard a vehicle that are configured to generate camera data; and a processor that is coupled to the one or more cameras and configured to at least facilitate: identifying a change in position of one or more objects of the camera data using the camera data; and determining that a vehicle event has occurred, based on the change in position of the one or more objects of the camera data.

An apparatus and a method for automatically charging a vehicle include a charging plug to connect to a charging port of the vehicle, a manipulator to move the charging plug to the charging port of the vehicle, a power supply connected with the charging plug to supply charging power to the vehicle, and a processor. The processor obtains vehicle information and parking information through communication with the vehicle when recognizing parking of the vehicle, calculates a vehicle position using the vehicle information and the parking information, recognizes the charging port of the vehicle based on the calculated vehicle position, and controls the manipulator to connect the charging plug to the charging port of the vehicle such that a battery of the vehicle is charged.

An apparatus and a method for automatically charging a vehicle include a charging plug to connect to a charging port of the vehicle, a manipulator to move the charging plug to the charging port of the vehicle, a power supply connected with the charging plug to supply charging power to the vehicle, and a processor. The processor obtains vehicle information and parking information through communication with the vehicle when recognizing parking of the vehicle, calculates a vehicle position using the vehicle information and the parking information, recognizes the charging port of the vehicle based on the calculated vehicle position, and controls the manipulator to connect the charging plug to the charging port of the vehicle such that a battery of the vehicle is charged.

The disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for assisting a battery electric vehicle (BEV) execute a battery charging operation. In an example method, a processor of a battery charging advisory system in a BEV obtains information about a battery charging lot and evaluates the information to identify a battery charging station having a first charging cable that includes a first type of plug which is compatible for coupling to a charging port of the BEV. The processor may then identify a location of the charging port on the BEV and uses this information to determine an orientation of the BEV with respect to the battery charging station. The processor then provides an advisory for maneuvering the BEV into a position that allows coupling of the first charging cable of the battery charging station to the charging port of the BEV.

Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of robots, and disclose a method and a device for automatically charging a robot, a charging station and a robot. The method for automatically charging a robot in the present application, applied to the robot, includes the steps of: detecting a distance to a charging station according to a laser ranging signal; starting laser feature recognition when the distance is determined less than a preset distance, where the laser feature recognition is configured to identify the charging station; and performing docking process according to a recognition result of the laser feature recognition, a laser ranging signal and an infrared guiding signal. The method for automatically charging a robot in the embodiments enables the intelligent robot to quickly and accurately find the charging station, and accurately perform the docking process and automatically charging.