Autonomous multi-platform robot system
First Claim
1. An autonomous system of mobile robots operating within an arbitrary environment and comprising:
- one or more functional mobile robot(s) that are responsible for performing functional tasks; and
one or more autonomous navigator mobile robot(s) that localize themselves and the functional robot(s) within the environment using the functional robot(s) as landmarks and control the functional robot(s) during task performance.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An autonomous mobile robot system allocates mapping, localization, planning and control functions to at least one navigator robot and allocates task performance functions to one or more functional robots. The at least one navigator robot maps the work environment, localizes itself and the functional robots within the map, plans the tasks to be performed by the at least one functional robot, and controls and tracks the functional robot during task performance. The navigator robot performs substantially all calculations for mapping, localization, planning and control for both itself and the functional robots. In one implementation, the navigator robot remains stationary while controlling and moving the functional robot in order to simplify localization calculations. In one embodiment, the navigator robot is equipped with sensors and sensor processing hardware required for these tasks, while the functional robot is not equipped with sensors or hardware employed for these purposes.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. An autonomous system of mobile robots operating within an arbitrary environment and comprising:
-
one or more functional mobile robot(s) that are responsible for performing functional tasks; and
one or more autonomous navigator mobile robot(s) that localize themselves and the functional robot(s) within the environment using the functional robot(s) as landmarks and control the functional robot(s) during task performance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
12. An autonomous system of mobile robots operating within an environment and comprising:
-
one or more functional mobile robot(s) that are responsible for performing functional tasks; and
one or more autonomous navigator mobile robot(s) that localize themselves and the functional robot(s) within the environment using the functional robot(s) as landmarks and control the functional robot(s) during task performance, wherein, when the functional robot(s) are moving, the navigator robot(s) remain stationary, and wherein, when the navigator robot(s) are moving, the functional robot(s) remain stationary.
-
-
13. An autonomous system of robots operating within an arbitrary environment and comprising:
-
one or more functional mobile robot(s) that are responsible for performing functional tasks; and
a plurality of navigator robots including one or more autonomous navigator mobile robot(s) and one or more computing platform(s), wherein the navigator robots localize themselves and the functional robot(s) within the environment using the functional robot(s) as landmarks and control the functional robot(s) during task performance.
-
Specification