Systems and methods for remote operating and/or monitoring of a robot

• US 10,723,018 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2016
• Issued: 07/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brain Corporation
• Original Assignee: Brain Corporation
• Inventors: Griffin, Cody, Unwin, Roger, Black, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Rink, Ryan
• Application Number:
  US15/362,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20180147721A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,338 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4011 Regulation of the cleaning machine by electric means; Control systems and remote control systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/04 Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/06 Control of the cleaning action for autonomous devices; Automatic detection of the surface condition before, during or after cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2852 Elements for displacement of the vacuum cleaner or the accessories therefor, e.g. wheels, casters or nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2889 Safety or protection devices or systems, e.g. for prevention of motor over-heating or for protection of the user
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2894 Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/161 Hardware, e.g. neural networks, fuzzy logic, interfaces, processor
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0282 generated in a local control room

Abstract

Systems and methods for remote operating and/or monitoring of a robot are disclosed. In some exemplary implementations, a robot can be communicatively coupled to a remote network. The remote network can send and receive signals with the robot. In some exemplary implementations, the remote network can receive sensor data from the robot, allowing the remote network to determine the context of the robot. In this way, the remote network can respond to assistance requests and also provide operating commands to the robot.

Claims

1. A robotic system comprising:

a robot comprising a plurality of sensors configured to generate sensor data about an environment, the plurality of sensors including a first sensor and a different second sensor;

a robot communications unit configured to send the sensor data and a request for assistance to a remote network; and

a processor in communication with the remote network configured to execute computer readable instructions to,

identify an event of interest, the event of interest is a stopping, collision, near collision, or failure, and associate a period of time with the event, the associated period of time including an opening time and an end time, the opening and end times occurring during the associated period of time to provide a window of time around the time of the event of interest, the amount of time expected to provide context to the event,

receive the sensor data from the first and second sensors during the associated period of time, the first sensor collects the sensor data in real-time throughout the associated period of time and independent from the second sensor collecting the sensor data, and the second sensor collects the sensor data during the opening time and the end time, the opening and end times of the associated period of time based on sensor data indicative of an occurrence of the event and the amount of time expected to provide context to the event,

determine a context to the event of interest between the opening and end times based at least in part on the sensor data from the first and second sensors, and

transmit to the remote network a signal providing the context to the event of interest during the associated period of time.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein,

the one or more sensors of the robot are further configured to generate a map related data about the environment;

and

the remote network further comprises a remote communications unit and a map processing unit, the map processing unit is configured to generate a map of the environment based at least in part on the map related data, and the remote communications unit is configured to receive the map related data from the robot and send the map generated by the map processing unit to the robot for autonomous navigation.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the robot comprises a floor cleaner.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer readable instructions to:

send to the robot communications unit, using the remote communications unit, instructions to address the request for assistance based at least in part on the determined context, wherein the instructions to address the request for assistance comprise actuator instructions that are configured to cause the robot to actuate.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein

the remote network further comprises a user interface configured to receive a user input, and

the instructions to address the request for assistance are generated based at least in part on the user input.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein,

the robot is configured to navigate the environment autonomously;

and

the event of interest comprises an obstruction along a route of the robot.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second robot having a second robot communications unit communicatively coupled to the remote network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote network is further configured to track usage of the robot.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the failure corresponds to inability of the robot to continue a route or calculate a collision free route.

9. A robot, comprising:

a plurality of sensors configured to generate sensor data about an environment, the plurality of sensors including a first sensor and a different second sensor;

an actuator configured to perform a task; and

a processor in communication with a remote network configured to execute computer readable instructions to;

identify an event of interest, wherein the event of interest is a stopping, collision, near collision, or failure, and associate a period of time with the event, associated period of time including an opening time and an end time, the opening and end times occurring during the associated period of time to provide a window of time around the time of the event of interest, the amount of time expected to provide context to the event,

receive the sensor data from the first and second sensors during the associated period of time, the first sensor collects the sensor data in real-time throughout the associated period of time and independent from the second sensor collecting the sensor data, and the second sensor collects the sensor data during the opening time and the end time, the opening and end times of the associated period of time based on sensor data indicative of an occurrence of the event and the amount of time expected to provide context to the event,

determine a context to the event of interest between the opening and end times based at least in part on the sensor data from the first and second sensors, and

transmit to a remote network a signal providing the context to the event of interest during the associated period of time.

10. The robot of claim 9, wherein the robot comprises a floor cleaner and the task comprises cleaning a floor.

11. The robot of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer readable instructions to receive a map from the remote network and perform the task based at least in part on the received map.

12. The robot of claim 9, further comprising a mapping and localization unit configured to generate a map based at least in part on the generated sensor data.

13. The robot of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer readable instructions to,

send the map to the remote network and receive a corrected map from the remote network, the sent map having one or more errors and the received corrected map no longer having the one or more errors.

14. The robot of claim 9, wherein the plurality of sensors, the actuator, and the processor comprise an attachable module.

22. The robot of claim 9, wherein the failure corresponds to inability of the robot to continue a route or calculate a collision free route.

15. A robot, comprising:

a processor in communication with a remote network configured to execute computer readable instructions to;

receive sensor data from a plurality of sensors coupled to the robot,

identify an event of interest, wherein the event of interest is a stopping, collision,

near collision, or failure, and associate a period of time with the event, associated period of time including an opening time and an end time, the opening and end times occurring during the associated period of time,

receive the sensor data from first and second sensors during the predetermined period of time, the first sensor collects the sensor data in real-time throughout the predetermined period of time and independent from the second sensor collecting the sensor data, and the second sensor collects the sensor data during the opening time and the end time, the opening and end times of the predetermined period of time based on sensor data indicative of an occurrence of the event of interest and an amount of time expected to provide context to the event, and

transmit to the remote network a signal providing the context to the event of interest during the associated period of time.

16. The robot of claim 15, wherein the remote network includes a user interface configured to display the context and receive the instructions to address the request for assistance from a user.

17. The robot of claim 15, wherein the determining the context further comprises machine learning performed on a library of stored sensor data.

18. The robot of claim 15, wherein the remote network is communicatively coupled to a plurality of robots via the communications unit.

19. The robot of claim 15, wherein the opening and end times are based on sensor data indicative of the occurrence of the event.

20. The robot of claim 19, wherein the event includes at least one of change in direction or speed of the robot, visual cues, and sounds.

23. The robot of claim 15, wherein the failure corresponds to inability of the robot to continue a route or calculate a collision free route.