GUIDANCE, NAVIGATION, AND CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE
First Claim
1. A method for automating the operation of a self-propelled vehicle in a passageway environment, the vehicle including one or more odometric sensors, one or more rangefinder sensors mounted on said vehicle, and a microprocessor including memory storage, said one or more odometric sensors and one or more rangefinder sensors being connected to said microprocessor, said vehicle being configured for microprocessor controlled operation with said microprocessor being interfaced with the vehicle'"'"'s throttle/engine system, transmission system, braking system, and steering system, said method including the steps of:
- a) teaching a vehicle path through said passageway environment by the steps of,i) conducting a training run of said vehicle path through said passageway environment by driving said vehicle through said passageway environment, andii) acquiring raw sensor data from said one or more odometric sensors and said one or more rangefinder sensors during said training run of said vehicle path and storing said raw sensor data in a log file in said microprocessor memory storage;
b) processing said raw sensor data contained in said log file and producing therefrom a route profile and storing said route profile in said microprocessor memory storage, said route profile includingi) information representing a vehicle path through said passageway environment,ii) a sequence of local metric submaps of said passageway environment along said vehicle path, andiii) a speed profile defined as a function of distance along the vehicle path; and
c) automatically driving said vehicle along said vehicle path by the steps of,i) determining longitudinal, lateral, and heading errors of said vehicle with respect to the vehicle path by comparing said raw sensor data from said odometric sensors and said rangefinder sensors to said local metric submaps and said microprocessor using said longitudinal, lateral and heading errors and knowledge of said vehicle'"'"'s dynamics to control said steering system to adjust a direction of travel of said vehicle if needed for ensuring said vehicle closely tracks said vehicle path from said information representing said vehicle path stored in said route profile,ii) estimating a speed of said vehicle from data from said odometric sensors, and said microprocessor controlling said throttle/engine system, transmission system, and a braking system to adjust speed of travel of said vehicle if needed for ensuring said vehicle closely tracks said speed profile stored in said route profile by using said estimated speed and knowledge of said vehicle'"'"'s dynamics, andiii) said microprocessor instructing said vehicle to stop in the event of an emergency situation arising.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a guidance, navigation, and control method and system for an underground mining vehicle that allow said vehicle to be taught a route by a human operator and then have it automatically drive the route with no human intervention. The method works in three steps: teaching, route profiling, and playback. In the teaching step the vehicle is manually driven by a operator (or using tele-operation whereby the operator views a screen displaying live views from vehicle-mounted cameras and using remote controls) along a route which can consist of an arbitrary sequence of maneuvers including tramming forwards, switching directions, tramming backwards, turning, or pausing movement. During this phase raw data from vehicle-mounted sensors including odometric sensors and rangefinders are logged to a file throughout teaching for later processing. During the (offline) route profiling step, the raw data in the log file are processed into a route profile including a vehicle path, a sequence of local metric submaps located along the path, and a profile of desired speed as a function of distance along the path. During the playback step, the vehicle automatically repeats the route that was taught during the teaching phase, as represented by the route profile. This is accomplished by first determining where the vehicle is on the route using a localization method which uses the odometric and laser rangefinder sensors and the local metric maps to determine the vehicle location. A steering control method adjusts the vehicle'"'"'s steering to ensure it tracks the intended path. A drive control method adjusts the vehicle'"'"'s speed accordingly and safety method ensures the vehicle stops in the event that an obstruction is on the vehicle'"'"'s intended path.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for automating the operation of a self-propelled vehicle in a passageway environment, the vehicle including one or more odometric sensors, one or more rangefinder sensors mounted on said vehicle, and a microprocessor including memory storage, said one or more odometric sensors and one or more rangefinder sensors being connected to said microprocessor, said vehicle being configured for microprocessor controlled operation with said microprocessor being interfaced with the vehicle'"'"'s throttle/engine system, transmission system, braking system, and steering system, said method including the steps of:
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a) teaching a vehicle path through said passageway environment by the steps of, i) conducting a training run of said vehicle path through said passageway environment by driving said vehicle through said passageway environment, and ii) acquiring raw sensor data from said one or more odometric sensors and said one or more rangefinder sensors during said training run of said vehicle path and storing said raw sensor data in a log file in said microprocessor memory storage; b) processing said raw sensor data contained in said log file and producing therefrom a route profile and storing said route profile in said microprocessor memory storage, said route profile including i) information representing a vehicle path through said passageway environment, ii) a sequence of local metric submaps of said passageway environment along said vehicle path, and iii) a speed profile defined as a function of distance along the vehicle path; and c) automatically driving said vehicle along said vehicle path by the steps of, i) determining longitudinal, lateral, and heading errors of said vehicle with respect to the vehicle path by comparing said raw sensor data from said odometric sensors and said rangefinder sensors to said local metric submaps and said microprocessor using said longitudinal, lateral and heading errors and knowledge of said vehicle'"'"'s dynamics to control said steering system to adjust a direction of travel of said vehicle if needed for ensuring said vehicle closely tracks said vehicle path from said information representing said vehicle path stored in said route profile, ii) estimating a speed of said vehicle from data from said odometric sensors, and said microprocessor controlling said throttle/engine system, transmission system, and a braking system to adjust speed of travel of said vehicle if needed for ensuring said vehicle closely tracks said speed profile stored in said route profile by using said estimated speed and knowledge of said vehicle'"'"'s dynamics, and iii) said microprocessor instructing said vehicle to stop in the event of an emergency situation arising. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification