Controlling the Operations of a Robotic Device

• US 20160121482A1
• Filed: 10/30/2014
• Published: 05/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bostick, James E., Ganci, John M. Jr., Rakshit, Sarbajit K., Trim, Craig M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,440,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0003 Home robots, i.e. small robots for domestic use
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/16 Programme controls programme controls in general G05B19/00, e.g. numerical pogramme controls G05B19/18; recording or playback systems G05B19/42
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/47 the supplementary measurement being an inertial measurement, e.g. tightly coupled inertial
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40103 Show object with laser pointer, give oral command for action on, with object
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0016 characterised by the operator's input device input arrangements for computing systems in general G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot

Abstract

A method and/or computer program product controls operations of a robotic device. A robotic device receives a first signal from a positioning hardware device that is worn by a user. The first signal describes a relative location between the user and the robotic device. A second signal describes an angle between the user and the robotic device and between the user and the user-selected object. Based on the first signal, the second signal, and a record of object positions of objects within a predefined area of the user, the identification and location of the user-selected object is determined. A determination is made regarding whether or not the robotic device is authorized to perform a specific task on the user-selected object based on the location of the user-selected object. If authorized, the robotic device performs the specific task on the user-selected object.

Claims

1-7. -7. (canceled)

8. A method for controlling operation of a robotic device, the method comprising:

receiving, by a robotic device, a first signal from a positioning hardware device that is worn by a user, wherein the first signal describes a first relative location between the user and the robotic device, wherein the first relative location comprises a distance and direction between the user and the robotic device;

receiving, by the robotic device, a second signal from the positioning hardware device that is worn by the user, wherein the second signal indicates that the user is pointing at a user-selected object, wherein the second signal comprises a description of a horizontal angle formed by a first line between the user and the robotic device and a second line between the user and the user-selected object while the user is pointing at the user-selected object, and wherein the second signal further comprises a description of a vertical spatial inclination of the positioning hardware device while the user is pointing at the user-selected object;

determining, by one or more processors, an identification and location of the user-selected object based on the first signal, the second signal, and a record of object positions of objects within a predefined area of the user;

determining, by one or more processors, a direction and distance from the robotic device to the user-selected object, wherein the direction and distance from the robotic device to the user-selected object is derived from the first signal, the second signal, and the record of object positions of objects within a predefined area of the user;

determining, by one or more processors, whether the robotic device is authorized to perform a specific task on the user-selected object; and

in response to determining that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object, traversing, by the robotic device, the direction and distance from the robotic device to the user-selected object and performing, by the robotic device, the specific task on the user-selected object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object comprises:

examining, by one or more processors, a record of tasks that have been performed on the user-selected object, wherein the record of tasks comprises a record of when the specific task was last performed on the user-selected object; and

in response to said examining determining that the specific task was last performed on the user-selected object more than a predefined past length of time, determining, by one or more processors, that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object comprises:

examining, by one or more processors, a record of tasks that have been performed on the user-selected object, wherein the record of tasks comprises a record of which tasks have been performed by the robotic device on the user-selected object; and

in response to said examining determining that the robotic device has performed the specific task on the user-selected object at a past time, determining, by one or more processors, that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object comprises:

examining, by one or more processors, a record of object locations of objects that have been acted upon by the robotic device at a past time; and

in response to said examining determining that the robotic device has performed the specific task on an object at a particular object location from the record of object locations of objects that have been acted upon by the robotic device at the past time, determining, by one or more processors, that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object at the particular object location.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein said determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object comprises:

examining, by one or more processors, a record of object locations of objects that have been acted upon by the robotic device at a past time, wherein the record of object locations further comprises a type description of at least one of the objects;

matching, by one or more processors, the user-selected object to a particular object from the record to determine a type description of the user-selected object; and

in response to the type description of the user-selected object matching a type description of an object from the record of object locations, determining, by one or more processors, that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the robotic device, an area signal that is generated by movement of the positioning hardware device that is worn by the user, wherein the area signal describes a definition of an area that extends around a space occupied by the user-selected object, wherein the area is populated with the user-selected object and objects other than the user-selected object; and

executing, by the robotic device, the specific task on any object within the area that extends around the space occupied by the user-selected object.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, by the robotic device, an area signal that is generated by movement of the positioning hardware device that is worn by the user, wherein the area signal describes a definition of an area that extends around a space occupied by the user-selected object, wherein the area is populated with the user-selected object and objects other than the user-selected object; and

further determining, by one or more processors, the identification of the user-selected object based on the user-selected object being scheduled to have the specific task performed thereon and the objects other than the user-selected object failing to be scheduled to have the specific task performed thereon.

15. A computer program product for controlling operation of a robotic device, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, and wherein the program code is readable and executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by a robotic device, a first signal from a positioning hardware device that is worn by a user, wherein the first signal describes a first relative location between the user and the robotic device, wherein the first relative location comprises a distance and direction between the user and the robotic device;

receiving, by the robotic device, a second signal from the positioning hardware device that is worn by the user, wherein the second signal indicates that the user is pointing at a user-selected object, wherein the second signal comprises a description of a horizontal angle formed by a first line between the user and the robotic device and a second line between the user and the user-selected object while the user is pointing at the user-selected object, and wherein the second signal further comprises a description of a vertical spatial inclination of the positioning hardware device while the user is pointing at the user-selected object;

determining an identification and location of the user-selected object based on the first signal, the second signal, and a record of object positions of objects within a predefined area of the user;

determining a direction and distance from the robotic device to the user-selected object, wherein the direction and distance from the robotic device to the user-selected object is derived from the first signal, the second signal, and the record of object positions of objects within a predefined area of the user;

determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform a specific task on the user-selected object; and

in response to determining that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object, traversing, by the robotic device, the direction and distance from the robotic device to the user-selected object and performing, by the robotic device, the specific task on the user-selected object.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object comprises:

examining a record of tasks that have been performed on the user-selected object, wherein the record of tasks comprises a record of when the specific task was last performed on the user-selected object; and

in response to said examining determining that the specific task was last performed on the user-selected object more than a predefined past length of time, determining that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object comprises:

examining a record of tasks that have been performed on the user-selected object, wherein the record of tasks comprises a record of which tasks have been performed by the robotic device on the user-selected object; and

in response to said examining determining that the robotic device has performed the specific task on the user-selected object at a past time, determining that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object comprises:

examining a record of object locations of objects that have been acted upon by the robotic device at a past time; and

in response to said examining determining that the robotic device has performed the specific task on an object at a particular object location from the record of object locations of objects that have been acted upon by the robotic device at the past time, determining that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object at the particular object location.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said determining whether the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object comprises:

examining a record of object locations of objects that have been acted upon by the robotic device at a past time, wherein the record of object locations further comprises a type description of at least one of the objects;

matching the user-selected object to a particular object from the record to determine a type description of the user-selected object; and

in response to the type description of the user-selected object matching a type description of an object from the record of object locations, determining that the robotic device is authorized to perform the specific task on the user-selected object.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the robotic device, an area signal that is generated by movement of the positioning hardware device that is worn by the user, wherein the area signal describes a definition of an area that extends around a space occupied by the user-selected object, wherein the area is populated with the user-selected object and objects other than the user-selected object; and

executing, by the robotic device, the specific task on any object within the area that extends around the space occupied by the user-selected object.