System for avoiding collisions between autonomous vehicles conducting agricultural operations

• US 10,152,891 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2016
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blue Leaf IP Incorporated (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: CNH Industrial America LLC (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Inventors: Rusciolelli, Adam, Dollinger, Tyson, Posselius, John, Foster, Christopher A., Ray, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Shudy, Angelina
• Application Number:
  US15/144,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20170316692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23, 701 26, 701 50
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 69/008 automatic
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/02 combined with other agricultural processing, e.g. fertilising, planting
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/1278 for automatic steering
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0289 with means for avoiding collisions between vehicles vehicle fittings for automatically controlling speed including means for detecting potential obstacles B60K31/0008; avoiding obstacles by action on the steering system B62D; radar, sonar, lidar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

The present invention provides a system for conducting agricultural operations in a field using autonomous vehicles in which a collision avoidance mechanism may be provided. The system may include providing a mission plan for autonomous vehicles to conduct agricultural operations, establishing a hierarchy for the vehicles, and monitoring for an event conditions indicating vehicles are traveling toward a collision with respect to one another. Upon receiving an event condition, the system may revise the mission plan to adjust a path of one of the vehicles based on the hierarchy in order to avoid the collision.

Claims

1. A method for conducting agricultural operations in a field, comprising:

providing a first autonomous vehicle and a second autonomous vehicle, each of the first autonomous vehicle and the second autonomous vehicle including agricultural machinery for performing a desired agricultural operation wherein at least one of the field, crops in the field, and crop residue in the field is acted upon;

providing a mission plan for first and second autonomous vehicles, the mission plan including a first path and a second path for the first and second autonomous vehicles to travel while the agricultural machinery of the first autonomous vehicle performs a first agricultural operation on at least one of the field, crops in the field, and crop residue in the field along the first path and the agricultural machinery of the second autonomous vehicle performs a second agricultural operation on at least one of the field, crops in the field, and crop residue in the field along the second path, respectively;

establishing a hierarchy wherein the first autonomous vehicle is prioritized above the second autonomous vehicle;

performing the first agricultural operation with the first autonomous vehicle and the second agricultural operation with the second autonomous vehicle in a predetermined order, the first agricultural operation being different than the second agricultural operation;

monitoring for an event condition reported by at least one of the first and second autonomous vehicles, the event condition being a detection of the first and second autonomous vehicles traveling toward a collision with respect to one another; and

upon receiving the event condition, providing a revised mission plan for the second autonomous vehicle, wherein the revised mission plan adjusts the second path of the second autonomous vehicle based on the hierarchy to avoid the collision.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the event condition being a detection of the first and second autonomous vehicles traveling in opposite directions in a common path.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the event condition being a detection of the first and second autonomous vehicles traveling in opposite directions in adjacent paths.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving progress information from the first and second autonomous vehicles indicating progress with respect to the first agricultural operation and the second agricultural operation, respectively.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the progress information includes a position of the autonomous vehicle with respect to the path.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the progress information includes at least one of an amount of product collected and an amount of product dispensed.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the revised mission plan according to at least a first weight indicating an importance of completion time and a second weight indicating an importance of agricultural efficiency.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the revised mission plan according to first and second constraints requiring maximum speeds for the first and second autonomous vehicles, respectively, while performing the agricultural operation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the mission plan including conducting the first agricultural operation in an area of a field before conducting the second agricultural operation in the area.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first agricultural operation is harvesting and the second agricultural operation is tilling.

11. A system for managing agricultural operations, the system including a processor executing a program stored in a non-transient medium operable to:

provide a mission plan for first and second autonomous vehicles wherein each of the first autonomous vehicle and the second autonomous vehicle includes agricultural machinery for performing a desired agricultural operation wherein at least one of the field, crops in the field, and crop residue in the field is acted upon, the mission plan including a first path and a second path for the first and second autonomous vehicles to travel while the agricultural machinery of the first autonomous vehicle performs a first agricultural operation on at least one of the field, crops in the field, and crop residue in the field along the first path and the agricultural machinery of the second autonomous vehicle performs a second agricultural operation on at least one of the field, crops in the field, and crop residue in the field along the second path, respectively;

establish a hierarchy wherein the first autonomous vehicle is prioritized above the second autonomous vehicle;

performing the first agricultural operation with the first autonomous vehicle and the second agricultural operation with the second autonomous vehicle in a predetermined order, the first agricultural operation being different than the second agricultural operation;

monitor for an event condition reported by at least one of the first and second autonomous vehicles, the event condition being a detection of the first and second autonomous vehicles traveling toward a collision with respect to one another; and

upon receiving the event condition, provide a revised mission plan for the second autonomous vehicle, wherein the revised mission plan adjusts the second path of the second autonomous vehicle based on the hierarchy to avoid the collision.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the event condition is a detection of the first and second autonomous vehicles traveling in opposite directions in a common path.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the event condition is a detection of the first and second autonomous vehicles traveling in opposite directions in adjacent paths.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising to receive progress information from the first and second autonomous vehicles indicating progress with respect to the first agricultural operation and the second agricultural operation, respectively.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the progress information includes a position of the autonomous vehicle with respect to the path.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the progress information includes at least one of an amount of product collected and an amount of product dispensed.

17. The system of claim 11, further comprising to determine the revised mission plan according to at least a first weight indicating an importance of completion time and a second weight indicating an importance of agricultural efficiency.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising to determine the revised mission plan according to first and second constraints requiring maximum speeds for the first and second autonomous vehicles, respectively, while performing the agricultural operation.

19. The system of claim 11, further comprising the mission plan including conducting the first agricultural operation in an area of a field before conducting the second agricultural operation in the area.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first autonomous vehicle is a harvester and the second autonomous vehicle is a tiller.