Control System for a Remote Vehicle
First Claim
1. A control system for operation of a remote vehicle, comprising:
- a twin-grip hand-held controller having a volume of less than 1 liter and a weight of less than 1 lb, the twin-grip hand-held controller including;
a left grip shaped to be held between a user'"'"'s left little finger, ring finger, and the ball of the thumb, leaving the user'"'"'s left index finger, middle finger, and thumb free;
a left control zone adjacent to the left grip, including a first analog joystick and a first 4-way directional control manipulable by the left thumb, and a left rocker control located on a shoulder portion of the controller;
a right handed grip shaped to be held between the user'"'"'s right little finger, ring finger, and the ball of the thumb, leaving the user'"'"'s left index finger, middle finger, and thumb free;
a right control zone adjacent the right grip, including a second analog joystick and a second 4-way directional control manipulable by the right thumb, and a right rocker control located on a shoulder portion of the controller;
a tether zone between the left control zone and the right control zone, including a tether anchor configured to tether the hand controller between the left grip and the right grip and to permit the hand controller to hang with the left grip and right grip pointing upward;
a tether extending from the tether anchor to the right shoulder of an operator, the tether including a strain relief section; and
a quick-release pad to be worn on an operator'"'"'s chest, the quick-release pad including a first fastener for affixing the quick-release pad to available mounts on the operator, and a second quick-release fastener for holding the hand-held controller to the quick-release pad to be readily removable by pulling on the hand-held controller.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A control system for operation of a remote vehicle comprises a twin-grip hand-held controller having a volume of less than 1 liter and a weight of less than 1 lb. The twin-grip hand-held controller includes: a left grip shaped to be held between a user'"'"'s left little finger, ring finger, and the ball of the thumb, leaving the user'"'"'s left index finger, middle finger, and thumb free; a left control zone adjacent to the left grip, including a first analog joystick and a first 4-way directional control manipulable by the left thumb, and a left rocker control located on a shoulder portion of the controller; a right handed grip shaped to be held between the user'"'"'s right little finger, ring finger, and the ball of the thumb, leaving the user'"'"'s left index finger, middle finger, and thumb free; a right control zone adjacent the right grip, including a second analog joystick and a second 4-way directional control manipulable by the right thumb, and a right rocker control located on a shoulder portion of the controller; a tether zone between the left control zone and the right control zone, including a tether anchor configured to tether the hand controller between the left grip and the right grip and to permit the hand controller to hang with the left grip and right grip pointing upward; a tether extending from the tether anchor to the right shoulder of an operator, the tether including a strain relief section. A quick-release pad is worn on an operator'"'"'s chest, the quick-release pad including a first fastener for affixing the quick-release pad to available mounts on the operator, and a second quick-release fastener for holding the hand-held controller to the quick-release pad to be readily removable by pulling on the hand-held controller.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. A control system for operation of a remote vehicle, comprising:
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a twin-grip hand-held controller having a volume of less than 1 liter and a weight of less than 1 lb, the twin-grip hand-held controller including; a left grip shaped to be held between a user'"'"'s left little finger, ring finger, and the ball of the thumb, leaving the user'"'"'s left index finger, middle finger, and thumb free; a left control zone adjacent to the left grip, including a first analog joystick and a first 4-way directional control manipulable by the left thumb, and a left rocker control located on a shoulder portion of the controller; a right handed grip shaped to be held between the user'"'"'s right little finger, ring finger, and the ball of the thumb, leaving the user'"'"'s left index finger, middle finger, and thumb free; a right control zone adjacent the right grip, including a second analog joystick and a second 4-way directional control manipulable by the right thumb, and a right rocker control located on a shoulder portion of the controller; a tether zone between the left control zone and the right control zone, including a tether anchor configured to tether the hand controller between the left grip and the right grip and to permit the hand controller to hang with the left grip and right grip pointing upward; a tether extending from the tether anchor to the right shoulder of an operator, the tether including a strain relief section; and a quick-release pad to be worn on an operator'"'"'s chest, the quick-release pad including a first fastener for affixing the quick-release pad to available mounts on the operator, and a second quick-release fastener for holding the hand-held controller to the quick-release pad to be readily removable by pulling on the hand-held controller.
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2. A control system for operation of remote vehicle having a main drive and a flipper drive articulated in a pitch plane, the control system comprising:
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a processor capable of communicating with the remote vehicle; a twin-grip hand-held controller for providing commands to the processor, the twin-grip hand-held controller including; a left grip that permits a user'"'"'s left index finger, left middle finger, and left thumb to operate controls; a driving joystick for forward/reverse and left/right steering of the remote vehicle, and a first array of buttons, the driving joystick and the first array of buttons being manipulable by the user'"'"'s left thumb; a camera joystick for controlling a camera pose of the remote vehicle, and a second array of buttons, the camera joystick and the second array of buttons being manipulable by the user'"'"'s right thumb; a rocker control for controlling a flipper of the remote vehicle, the rocker control being aligned along a pitch plane parallel to the articulated flipper drive, and controlling a rotational position of a flipper drive; and a brake control that actuates a brake on the remote vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A control system for operation of remote vehicle having a main drive and a flipper drive articulated in a pitch plane, the control system comprising:
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a processor capable of communicating with the remote vehicle; a twin-grip hand-held controller for providing commands to the processor, the twin-grip hand-held controller including; a left grip that permits a user'"'"'s left index finger, left middle finger, and left thumb to operate controls; a driving joystick for forward/reverse and left/right steering of the remote vehicle, and a first array of buttons, the driving joystick and the first array of buttons being manipulable by the user'"'"'s left thumb; a camera joystick for controlling a camera pose of the remote vehicle, and a second array of buttons, the camera joystick and the second array of buttons being manipulable by the user'"'"'s right thumb; and a mode button or toggle located under the user'"'"'s left forefinger, right forefinger, left middle finger, or right middle finger.
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8. A control system for operation of remote vehicle having a main drive and a flipper drive articulated in a pitch plane, the control system comprising:
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a processor capable of communicating with the remote vehicle; a twin-grip hand-held controller for providing commands to the processor, the twin-grip hand-held controller including; a left grip that permits a user'"'"'s left index finger, left middle finger, and left thumb to operate controls; a driving joystick for forward/reverse and left/right steering of the remote vehicle, and a first array of buttons, the driving joystick and the first array of buttons being manipulable by the user'"'"'s left thumb; a camera joystick for controlling a camera pose of the remote vehicle, and a second array of buttons, the camera joystick and the second array of buttons being manipulable by the user'"'"'s right thumb; and one of a directional pad or a right button array for selecting among one or more predetermined poses of the remote vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A control system for operation of remote vehicle having a main drive and a flipper drive articulated in a pitch plane, the control system comprising:
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a processor capable of communicating with the remote vehicle; a twin-grip hand-held controller for providing commands to the processor, the twin-grip hand-held controller including; a left grip that permits a user'"'"'s left index finger, left middle finger, and left thumb to operate controls; a driving joystick for forward/reverse and left/right steering of the remote vehicle, and a first array of buttons, the driving joystick and the first array of buttons being manipulable by the user'"'"'s left thumb; a camera joystick for controlling a camera pose of the remote vehicle, and a second array of buttons, the camera joystick and the second array of buttons being manipulable by the user'"'"'s right thumb; and one of a directional pad or a right button array for selecting among one or more autonomous assist behaviors of the remote vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for controlling a remote vehicle, comprising:
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a hand-held controller having a plurality of buttons; a display including a graphical user interface having soft buttons; and a processor in communication with the hand-held controller and the display, wherein buttons of the hand-held controller are mapped to soft buttons of the graphical user interface to allow actuation of soft buttons of the graphical user interface, and wherein the hand-held controller is capable of switching between two or more button function modes, wherein each button function mode assigns different functions to one or more of the buttons of the hand-held controller. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A system for controlling a remote vehicle, comprising:
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a hand-held controller having a plurality of buttons; a display including a graphical user interface having soft buttons; and a processor in communication with the hand-held controller and the display, wherein buttons of the hand-held controller are mapped to soft buttons of the graphical user interface to allow actuation of soft buttons of the graphical user interface, and wherein the soft buttons of the graphical user interface allow selection of one or more autonomous assist behaviors of the remote vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A quick-release system for use with a portion of a remote vehicle control system, the quick-release system comprising:
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an anchor pad to be worn on a user'"'"'s chest, the anchor pad including a first fastener for affixing the anchor pad to available mounts on the user, and a second quick-release fastener on the hand-held controller for holding the hand-held controller to the anchor pad to be readily removable by pulling on the hand-held controller.
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35. A quick-release system for use with a portion of a remote vehicle control system, the quick-release system including a quick-release pad attached to a loop on a user'"'"'s gear, the quick-release pad comprising Velcro®
- on an outer-facing side thereof and having a size suitable to allow releasable but stable attachment of the hand-held controller to the pad, the quick-release pad is attached to a loop on the user'"'"'s gear.
- View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39)
Specification