APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR A PHASED ARRAY ANTENNA FOR AN AUTONOMOUS ROBOT

Abstract

An apparatus, system and method of operating an autonomous mobile robot having a height of at least one meter. The apparatus, system and method may include a mobile robot body; at least two phased array antennas associated with the mobile body, wherein the phased array antennas enable wireless communication between on-board features of the mobile robot, including at least mobility hardware proximate to a base of the mobile robot body, and off-board sensors related to at least navigation of the mobility hardware; and a processing system communicative with the on-board features and the off-board sensors via intercommunication with the phased antennas, and comprising non-transitory computing code which, when executed by at least one processor associated with the processing system.

Claims

1. An autonomous mobile robot, comprising: a mobile robot body; at least two phased array antennas associated with the mobile body, wherein the phased array antennas enable wireless communication between on-board features of the mobile robot, including at least mobility hardware proximate to a base of the mobile robot body, and off-board sensors related to at least navigation of the mobility hardware; and a processing system communicative with the on-board features and the off-board sensors via intercommunication over the phased antennas, and comprising non-transitory computing code which, when executed by at least one processor associated with the processing system, causes to be executed the steps of: navigating the mobile robot along a predetermined pathway, subject to obstacle avoidance, by selectively actuating the mobility hardware; and executing communication protocols between the on-board features and the off-board sensors over the phased array antennas to allow for the navigating.

2. The robot of claim 1, wherein the mobile robot body comprises a housing.

3. The robot of claim 1, wherein the association of the phased array antennas comprises association inside the mobile robot body housing.

4. The robot of claim 3, wherein the housing inside the mobile robot body comprises housing proximate to the base.

5. The robot of claim 1, wherein the association of the phased array antennas comprises a housing on an outer face of the mobile robot body housing.

6. The robot of claim 1, wherein the off-board sensors comprise beacon sensors.

7. The robot of claim 6, wherein the off-board sensors additionally comprise inventory sensors.

8. The robot of claim 1, wherein the phased array antennas comprise printed traces.

9. The robot of claim 1, wherein the phased array antennas comprise subtractively processed traces.

10. The robot of claim 1, wherein the phased array antennas comprise a substrate.

11. The robot of claim 10, wherein the substrate is flexible.

12. The robot of claim 10, wherein the substrate is flat and rigid.

13. The robot of claim 10, wherein the substrate comprises the mobile robot body.

14. The robot of claim 10, wherein the substrate further comprises surface mount technology components.

15. The robot of claim 1, wherein the processing system resides principally within the mobile robot body.

16. The robot of claim 1, wherein the processing system resides principally off-board the mobile robot.

17. The robot of claim 1, wherein the phased array antennas comprise wifi antennas.

18. The robot of claim 1, wherein the phased array antennas comprise Bluetooth antennas.

19. The robot of claim 1, wherein the phased array antennas comprise cellular antennas.

20. The robot of claim 1, wherein the robot body includes a mast of at least 1 meter in height.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile robot operating in a retail environment;

[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary robot in an operating environment;

[0016] FIG. 3 illustrate exemplary aspects for an autonomous robot;

[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary aspects for an autonomous robot;

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates exemplary aspects for an autonomous robot;

[0019] FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary aspects for an autonomous robot;

[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates exemplary aspects for an autonomous robot;

[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary aspects for an autonomous robot;

[0022] FIG. 9 illustrates exemplary aspects for an autonomous robot;

[0023] FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary aspects for an autonomous robot; and

[0024] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary processing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The figures and descriptions provided herein may have been simplified to illustrate aspects that are relevant for a clear understanding of the herein described devices, systems, and methods, while eliminating, for the purpose of clarity, other aspects that may be found in typical similar devices, systems, and methods. Those of ordinary skill may recognize that other elements and/or operations may be desirable and/or necessary to implement the devices, systems, and methods described herein. But because such elements and operations are well known in the art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present disclosure, a discussion of such elements and operations may not be provided herein. However, the present disclosure is deemed to inherently include all such elements, variations, and modifications to the described aspects that would be known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0026] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. For example, as used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.

[0027] When an element or layer is referred to as being “on”, “engaged to”, “connected to” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to”, “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0028] Although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. That is, terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms, when used herein, do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the exemplary embodiments.

[0029] Processor-implemented modules, systems and methods of use are disclosed herein that may provide access to and transformation of a plurality of types of digital content, including but not limited to video, image, text, audio, metadata, algorithms, interactive and document content, and which track, deliver, manipulate, transform and report the accessed content. Described embodiments of these modules, systems and methods are intended to be exemplary and not limiting. As such, it is contemplated that the herein described systems and methods may be adapted and may be extended to provide enhancements and/or additions to the exemplary modules, systems and methods described. The disclosure is thus intended to include all such extensions.

[0030] Furthermore, it will be understood that the terms “engine”, “application”, or “module”, as used herein, do not limit the functionality to particular physical modules, but may include any number of tangibly-embodied software and/or hardware components having a transformative effect on at least a portion of a system. In general, a computer program product in accordance with one embodiment comprises a tangible computer usable medium (e.g., standard RAM, an optical disc, a USB drive, or the like) having computer-readable program code embodied therein, wherein the computer-readable program code is adapted to be executed by a processor (which may work in connection with an operating system) to implement one or more functions and methods as described below. In this regard, the program code may be implemented in any desired language, and may be implemented as machine code, assembly code, byte code, interpretable source code or the like (e.g., via C, C++, C#, Java, Actionscript, Objective-C, Javascript, CSS, XML, etc.).

[0031] The embodiments may provide a mobile robot having a substantially 360 degree field of view (FoV) for obstacle assessment and which senses and follows a predetermined travel path. The embodiments provide high gain phased array antennas for improving RF communications between such a robot and a sensor, such as a beacons sensor for the predetermined travel path, particularly, for example, in a retail space environment. The communications protocol for the sensor system may vary, such as using Bluetooth or wireless Ethernet; and the type of off-board sensor may also vary, such as including navigational, environmental, safety, light, or depth sensors, by way of example.

[0032] The phased array antenna may be of any of various sizes and frequencies. The size and/or frequency choice may depend on how much contribution to the link budget is required of the antenna, such as in a circumstance of extreme distance or RF enclosure loss.

[0033] Regarding construction, the phased array antenna may be, for example, a rigid or flexible printed circuit board with plated-up copper. The antenna may also be realized on a rigid or flexible substrate (polyamide, PET, paper, etc., or directly on the plastic enclosure), such as with conductive ink (silver, copper or other blends of materials). For example, the phased array section may be interconnected to each other and to the main processor board using conductive traces printed on the shared substrate in between the phase array.

[0034] The requisite traces on the substrate may be, for example, printed or deposited via known methodologies. Likewise, the phased array antennas may be manufactured by a subtractive processes, such as by plating on rigid fr4 or flexible polyamide. Yet further, the phase array antenna and its associated circuits may be made on flexible substrates by additive processes such as printing (screen, gravure, inkjet, flexo, etc.), dispensing or coating (jetting, slot die, spray, etc.), by way of non-limiting example.

[0035] As detailed, the printed phased array antenna may be a planar structure. This planar/flexible planar structure may be mounted on a metal mast, or behind a piece of plastic packaging, by way of non-limiting example, such as to conceal its implementation.

[0036] Alternatively, the disclosed antenna may be conformed to the shape of the robot's enclosure. Whether planar or conformed, the electronics components, such as for the power, sensors, communications, and/or driver circuits may be distinct from or integrated to the substrates on which the phase array antennas reside. For example, antennas of various designs, such as 5G, LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth/BLE, LORA, and/or the like may be integrated on the same substrate.

[0037] As discussed throughout, one disclosed robotic, namely a retail robot, may travel a pathway within a retail space. While travelling, the robot may poll beacon sensors for various data, collecting the cumulative data from the maximum number of sensors on the predetermined travel pathway.

[0038] The disclosed high gain antenna may avoid increased operational time for the robot, such as wherein the robot must spend more time slowed or stalled in a location listening for a beacon sensor. The disclosed antenna may also improve the travel of the robot by allowing it to move into a closer proximity of known sensor locations to reduce path loss from the link budget.

[0039] Of course, while the embodiments are provided by way of illustration using a retail robot, the disclosed antennas may be employed in a variety of use contexts. Such use contexts may include, by way of non-limiting example, machine-to-machine communications, such as in an industrial setting; conflict or threat detection; connected healthcare, such as in hospitals or homes; home automation; and theme parks, such as to provide an improved guest experience.

[0040] The embodiments provide increased wireless coverage without increasing weight via distributed PCB antennas or a large metal inserts or wands. The embodiments also provide lower cost; low power; multiple distributed radios; and longer battery life, among other advantages over the known art.

[0041] The embodiments enable radio communications to reach every item on every shelf without the need for fixed large metal cone antenna, without need of powerful radios, and without the need for multiple PCB antennas on the robot's tower. The need for antennas and connective wiring harnesses is also reduced. Accordingly, the assembly steps, the bill of parts, and the weight of the robot is consequently reduced.

[0042] Moreover and as referenced above, the embodiments also allow the distributed integration of SMT components, such as contextual sensors, on the same structures. This improves signal performance by localized tuning without line loss and signal degradation.

[0043] FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary retail space 10 that may be patrolled by a robot 12 according to the embodiments. The robot 12 may traverse predetermined and pre-programmed portions of the mapped space 14 according to its programming, such as traversing the perimeter of the space; or each aisle in the space; or the least secure areas of the space; or only the aisles in certain departments of the space, for example. During its travels, on-board sensors may collect data from, for example, beacons 1103 or other features within the patrolled environment, and this information may be communicated wirelessly to a communications hub. Similarly, communications with beacons distinct from the robot may provide the travel path through the predetermined environment to be traversed, and these communications from the robot to and from the beacons around the environment may also occur wirelessly.

[0044] FIG. 2 illustrates a robotic system 100 according to embodiments. As shown, two or more sensors 102, 104 may be mounted substantially proximate to the top 106a of a mobile robot body 106. Of course, in some embodiments, sensing may be provided by multiple other sensors at particular heights or angles other than those specifically detailed herein, as will be understood to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the discussion herein.

[0045] The sensors 102, 104 may be aimed, such as prior to active use, substantially vertically, or at an angle such as in a range of 10 degrees to 45 degrees from vertical, toward the operating space for the robot. The sensing 112 may provide information necessary to the software, firmware, and/or hardware which is executed by the computer processing system 120 (such as upon execution of code stored in the non-transitory computing memory), such as obstacles 160 in the path guided by beacons 1103 according to processing system(s) 120, 1107, to carry out the function of the robotic system 100.

[0046] The robotic system 100 may additionally include off-board sensors 1103, such as pathway beacons, to provide information to the robot. This information may include, for example, literal distance from an individual beacon, or a triangulated distance from multiple beacons, such as may allow for navigation of the robot. Sensor 1103 may also include or provide other information, such as inventory information.

[0047] The information from off-board sensors 1103 (and/or “pings” or alarms provided therefrom) may be received by the robot using one or more on-board antennas 1105a, b. These antennas may also be used to send information outwardly from the robot, such as to off-board sensors 1103 and/or to off board processing system 1107.

[0048] Accordingly, the mobile robot 106 may include one or more processing systems 120 onboard the robot 106, and/or one or more off-board processing systems/communication hubs 1107, and these processing systems 120, 1107 may have associated therewith one or more computing memories having associated therewith non-transitory computing code which, when executed by the one or more processing systems, causes to be provided the algorithms, calculations, comparisons and relations discussed throughout. The processing system 120/1107 onboard the robot may additionally include communication capabilities for the transceiving of communications to and from offboard the robot, such as using the disclosed antennas. By way of example, such communication capabilities may include near field communications (NFC), Bluetooth, local area network (such as WiFi), wide area network, cellular network, infrared, or other communication methodologies. It will be appreciated that the onboard processing system 120/1107 of the robot 106, to the extent the aforementioned communication capabilities are provided, may handle all principal processing, such as application of the algorithms, calculations, comparisons and relations discussed throughout, or may share principal processing at least partially or fully offboard the robot 106, without departing from the disclosure.

[0049] In the illustration of FIG. 2, the robot 12 may travel the retail space 10 of FIG. 1. The antennas 1105 may communicate with the beacon sensors 1103 referenced in FIG. 1, which may provide a variety of information to the robot, including the travel path. These beacons 1103 may be placed periodically or sporadically, but not continuously, around the retail (or other) space, and may be out in the open or in more blocked or hidden location. Additionally, these antennas may communicate with the communication hub or hubs 1107.

[0050] As shown, these antennas may be housed on or within the base region 106b of the mast of the robot shown. Of course, the skilled artisan will appreciate that other housing locations may be used without departing from the disclosure. The antennas may be formed to the housing of the robot mast base, or may be flat, as discussed above. In the known art, these antennas would typically comprise low-gain OEM antennas, which typically have a gain of around unity.

[0051] FIGS. 3A and B illustrate high gain phased array antennas for use as the antennas 1105 in the robot 100 illustration of FIG. 2. These antennas would be employed in place of the low-gain OEM antennas of the known art referenced above.

[0052] The illustration of FIG. 3A is a rigid PCB phased array antenna 1123 made from FR4 and copper traces. The illustration of FIG. 3B is a flexible phased array antenna 1125 made using a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and conductive ink. In both of the embodiments of FIGS. 3, the gain of the phased array antennas may be on the order of about 10 dB, by way of example.

[0053] FIG. 4 is an exemplary illustration of a robot 12 following a travel path 14 in a retail environment, such as along one of the aisles illustrated in FIG. 1. In the illustration, multiple phased array antennas 1105, interconnected by traces on a single substrate or multiple substrates 1105a, are mounted on the robot housing. It should be noted that, although the antenna arrays 1105 are shown in FIG. 4 as being mounted on a single face of the housing, the array(s) may wrap around multiple faces of the robot housing, or around the entire structure, for example.

[0054] As referenced above, the antenna 1105 and/or its electronics substrate may be mounted or formed on or within the robot and/or its housing, and may be printed, deposited, and/or formed by other additive or subtractive processes. For example, FIG. 5 illustrates a printed antenna 1105, and its associated circuitry, for SMT component 3130 attachment on the same substrate.

[0055] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a 3D printed antenna array. The printed antenna array 1105 of FIG. 6 is shown printed directly on the surface of the robot housing/enclosure 106, although those skilled in the art will appreciate that the antenna array may be printed on a separate substrate as discussed herein throughout.

[0056] FIG. 7 illustrates a phase array antenna 1105, with interconnections 1137 and SMT components 1139 of an electronic circuit, all on a single substrate 1141. This type of structured arrays may be repeated over the entire area of the robot enclosure 106, as is referenced herein above in relation to FIG. 6.

[0057] FIG. 8 is a 3D Radiation plot of a high gain phased array antenna in accordance with the embodiments. By way of comparative example, FIG. 9 illustrates a 3D Radiation plot of a typical low-gain whip antenna of the known art.

[0058] FIG. 10 illustrates common structures in a retail space in relation to which sensors 1103 may be deployed, but which present a challenging environment for RF propagation to indicate path 14. This difficulty in RF communications may be due to the thickness or composition of the container, shelf, or appliance associated with or containing the sensor, for example. By way of example, in the illustration of FIG. 10, the refrigeration unit 3150 may be formed of metal and glass that may impede RF signaling, and the freezer 3152 may include thick insulation that may do the same.

[0059] It will be appreciated, for each of the foregoing instances, that the assessment by the processing system, and the correspondent reaction from the robot, may vary based on the robot's capabilities. By way of non-limiting example, a robot capable of climbing or descending steps may react or be reacted to proceed to continue moving.

[0060] In an additional example and as discussed above, a floor slope may appear as an obstacle. However, because of the disclosed travel template filtering, governing path planning software may be aware of the slope of the plane proximate to a particular beacon, and of the slope triangulated to a different travel path between various beacons. Thereby, if it is determined that the slope in one area exceeds the safety limits for the capabilities of that particular robot, the robot may be re-routed. Of course, the skilled artisan will appreciate that a deviation from a typical path among beacons may occur for any of a variety of reasons, such as a safety alert from another sensor of the robot, such as an indication from an on-board camera that an obstacle is in the typical pathway.

[0061] In addition to navigation, emergency stops, and the like, the detailed observations of all obstacles near the robot, as referenced above, may enable high-precision maneuvers that would generally be infeasible using prior state of the art localization methods and on-board sensors or typical off-board sensors engaged in low-gain/impeded communications with the robot via traditional antennas. Similarly, the disclosed antenna embodiments may allow the mobile robot to highly precisely engage a parking place or a docking station, by way of example, due, in part, to the high volume data made available by the disclosed high gain phased array antenna.

[0062] FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary computer processing system 120/1107 for use in association with the embodiments, by way of non-limiting example. Processing system 120/1107 is capable of executing software, such as an operating system (OS) and one or more computing algorithms/applications 490 such as those discussed throughout. The operation of exemplary processing system 120/1107 is controlled primarily by the computer readable instructions/code discussed throughout, such as instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as hard disk drive (HDD) 415, optical disk (not shown) such as a CD or DVD, solid state drive (not shown) such as a USB “thumb drive,” or the like. Such instructions may be executed within central processing unit (CPU) 410 to cause system 120/1107 to perform the disclosed operations, comparisons and calculations. In many known computer servers, workstations, personal computers, and the like, CPU 410 is implemented in an integrated circuit called a processor.

[0063] It is appreciated that, although exemplary processing system 120/1107 is shown to comprise a single CPU 410, such description is merely illustrative, as processing system 120/1107 may comprise a plurality of CPUs 410. Additionally, system 120/1107 may exploit the resources of remote CPUs (not shown) through communications network 470 or some other data communications means 480, as discussed above.

[0064] In operation, CPU 410 fetches, decodes, and executes instructions from a computer readable storage medium such as HDD 415. Such instructions may be included in software such as an operating system (OS), executable programs/applications 490, and the like. Information, such as computer instructions and other computer readable data, is transferred between components of system 120/1107 via the system's main data-transfer path. The main data-transfer path may use a system bus architecture 405, although other computer architectures (not shown) can be used, such as architectures using serializers and deserializers and crossbar switches to communicate data between devices over serial communication paths. System bus 405 may include data lines for sending data, address lines for sending addresses, and control lines for sending interrupts and for operating the system bus. Some busses provide bus arbitration that regulates access to the bus by extension cards, controllers, and CPU 410.

[0065] Memory devices coupled to system bus 405 may include random access memory (RAM) 425 and/or read only memory (ROM) 430, by way of example. Such memories include circuitry that allows information to be stored and retrieved. ROMs 430 generally contain stored data that cannot be modified. Data stored in RAM 425 can be read or changed by CPU 410 or other hardware devices. Access to RAM 425 and/or ROM 430 may be controlled by memory controller 420. Memory controller 420 may provide an address translation function that translates virtual addresses into physical addresses as instructions are executed.

[0066] In addition, processing system 120 may contain peripheral communications controller and bus 435, which is responsible for communicating instructions from CPU 410 to, and/or receiving data from, peripherals, such as peripherals 440, 445, and 450, which may include printers, keyboards, and/or the elements discussed herein throughout. An example of a peripheral bus is the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus that is well known in the pertinent art.

[0067] Display 460, which is controlled by display controller 455, may be used to display visual output and/or presentation data generated by or at the request of processing system 120/1107, responsive to operation of the aforementioned computing programs/applications 490. Such visual output may include text, graphics, animated graphics, and/or video, for example. Display 460 may be implemented with a CRT-based video display, an LCD or LED-based display, a gas plasma-based flat-panel display, a touch-panel display, or the like. Display controller 455 includes electronic components required to generate a video signal that is sent to display 460.

[0068] Further, processing system 120/1107 may contain network adapter 465 which may be used to couple system 120/1107 to external communication network 470, which may include or provide access to the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, or the like. Communications network 470 may provide access for processing system 120/1107 with means of communicating and transferring software and information electronically. Additionally, communications network 470 may provide for distributed processing, which involves several computers and the sharing of workloads or cooperative efforts in performing a task, as discussed above. Network adaptor 465 may communicate to and from network 470 using any available wired or wireless technologies. Such technologies may include, by way of non-limiting example, cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared, or the like.

[0069] In the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of clarity and brevity of the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the embodiments require more features than are expressly recited herein. Rather, the disclosure is to encompass all variations and modifications to the disclosed embodiments that would be understood to the skilled artisan in light of the disclosure.