System, computing device, and method for unmanned vehicle fleet control

• US 10,120,390 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2017
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Clearpath Robotics, Inc. (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gariepy, Ryan Christopher, Bencz, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Paige, Tyler D
• Application Number:
  US15/429,974
• Publication Number:
  US 20170205833A1
• Time in Patent Office: 634 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0297 by controlling means in a control room

Abstract

A system for controlling a fleet of unmanned vehicles includes a plurality of unmanned vehicles connected to a computing device. The computing device stores a dynamic attribute and a static attribute respective to each of the plurality of unmanned vehicles. The computing device is configured to: receive a task request including (i) an item identifier of an item, (ii) an action type defining an action to be performed respective to the item, and (iii) a location identifier of a location at which to perform the action; responsive to receiving the request, retrieve the stored dynamic attributes and static attributes; based on a comparison of the task request with the dynamic attributes and the static attributes, select one of the plurality of unmanned vehicles; and transmit, via the network, a command to the selected unmanned vehicle to perform the action respective to the item at the location.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a plurality of unmanned vehicles;

a computing device for connection to the plurality of unmanned vehicles via a network, the computing device storing, in a memory, (i) a dynamic attribute respective to each of the plurality of unmanned vehicles, the dynamic attribute defining an operational capability of the respective vehicle that is variable during vehicle operation and (ii) a static attribute respective to each of the plurality of unmanned vehicles, the static attribute defining an operational capability of the respective vehicle that is invariable during vehicle operation;

the computing device configured to;

receive a task request, the task request including (i) an item identifier of an item, (ii) an action type defining an action to be performed respective to the item, and (iii) a location identifier of a location at which to perform the action;

responsive to receiving the request, retrieve the stored dynamic attributes and static attributes from the memory;

for each unmanned vehicle, evaluate the dynamic attribute and the static attribute against at least one criterion;

when the at least one criterion is satisfied, add the unmanned vehicle to a selection set;

optimize the selection set to identify one of the unmanned vehicles as a selected unmanned vehicle that best matches the task request; and

transmit, via the network, a command to the selected unmanned vehicle to perform the action respective to the item at the location.

2. The system of claim 1, each of the unmanned vehicles having a motor coupled to an energy storage device;

wherein the dynamic attribute respective to each unmanned vehicle includes at least one of a location of the unmanned vehicle, an availability indicator for the unmanned vehicle, and a remaining capacity of the energy storage device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the static attribute respective to each of the unmanned vehicles includes at least a maximum payload of the unmanned vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, the computing device further configured to:

prior to selecting one of the plurality of unmanned vehicles, retrieve, from the memory, an item attribute corresponding to the item and a location attribute corresponding to the location.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the item attribute includes at least one of a mass of the item and a dimension of the item;

and wherein the location attribute includes a set of coordinates of the location.

6. The system of claim 1, the computing device further configured to:

responsive to transmitting the command to the selected unmanned vehicle, update the dynamic attribute respective to the selected unmanned vehicle.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the action type is a pick up action;

wherein the command is a command to pick up the item at the location; and

wherein the update includes adding the item identifier to the dynamic attribute.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the action type is an in-process action;

wherein the command is a command to machine the item at the location.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the update includes replacing the item identifier in the dynamic attribute with another item identifier.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the action type is a drop off action;

wherein the command is a command to drop off the item at the location; and

wherein the update includes removing the item identifier from the dynamic attribute.

11. The system of claim 1, the computing device further configured to receive the task request from a second computing device via the network.

12. The system of claim 1, the dynamic attribute defining at least one of:

a current location of the unmanned vehicle, a remaining energy supply of the unmanned vehicle, an indication of availability for the unmanned vehicle, and a current payload identifier for the unmanned vehicle.

13. The system of claim 1, the static attribute defining at least one of:

a maximum speed of the unmanned vehicle, a curb weight of the unmanned vehicle, a maximum payload of the unmanned vehicle, and an identifier of a tool mounted to the unmanned vehicle.

14. The system of claim 1, the static attributes for the plurality of unmanned vehicles being heterogeneous.

15. The system of claim 6, the computing device further configured to:

subsequent to transmitting the command, receive a status message from the selected unmanned vehicle via the network;

determine whether the status message indicates completion of the action respective to the item at the location; and

when the status message indicates completion, send a confirmation message to the second computing device.

16. The system of claim 6, the computing device further configured to:

determine whether the status message indicates a failure to complete the action respective to the item at the location;

when the status message indicates a failure, send an alert to the second computing device.

17. A computing device, comprising:

a communications interface for connection to a plurality of unmanned vehicles via a network;

memory storing (i) a dynamic attribute respective to each of the plurality of unmanned vehicles, the dynamic attribute defining an operational capability of the respective vehicle that is variable during vehicle operation and (ii) a static attribute respective to each of the plurality of unmanned vehicles, the static attribute defining an operational capability of the respective vehicle that is invariable during vehicle operation; and

a processor connected to the communications interface and the memory, the processor configured to;

receive a task request, the task request including (i) an item identifier of an item, (ii) an action type defining an action to be performed respective to the item, and (iii) a location identifier of a location at which to perform the action;

responsive to receiving the request, retrieve the stored dynamic attributes and static attributes from the memory;

for each unmanned vehicle, evaluate the dynamic attribute and the static attribute against at least one criterion;

when the at least one criterion is satisfied, add the unmanned vehicle to a selection set;

optimize the selection set to identify one of the unmanned vehicles in the selection set as a selected unmanned vehicle that best matches the task request; and

transmit, via the communications interface, a command to the selected unmanned vehicle to perform the action respective to the item at the location.

18. A method, comprising:

storing, in a memory, (i) a dynamic attribute respective of each of a plurality of unmanned vehicles, the dynamic attribute defining an operational capability of the respective vehicle that is variable during vehicle operation and (ii) a static attribute respective of each of the plurality of unmanned vehicles, the static attribute defining an operational capability of the respective vehicle that is invariable during vehicle operation;

receiving, at a processor connected to the memory, a task request, the task request including (i) an item identifier of an item, (ii) an action type defining an action to be performed respective to the item, and (iii) a location identifier of a location at which to perform the action;

responsive to receiving the request, retrieving the stored dynamic attributes and static attributes from the memory;

for each unmanned vehicle, evaluating the dynamic attribute and the static attribute against at least one criterion;

when the at least one criterion is satisfied, add the unmanned vehicle to a selection set;

optimizing the selection set to identify one of the unmanned vehicles as a selected unmanned vehicle that best matches the task request; and

transmitting, via a communications interface connected to the processor, a command to the selected unmanned vehicle to perform the action respective to the item at the location.