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SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONFIGURING FIELD DEVICES USING A CONFIGURATION DEVICE

  • US 20190001484A1
  • Filed: 08/22/2018
  • Published: 01/03/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method for configuring a group of mobile robots for cleaning an array of solar panels to perform non-identical operations in a coordinated manner, comprising:

  • physically associating the mobile robots with respective solar panels in the array thereby forming an application-dependent formation of robots, wherein each robot includes a non-transitory computer readable memory storing a control program, a communication interface and a processor that is configured to control operation of the robot according to the control program;

    configuring, with the HMI, a first robot associated with a first solar panel in the array, wherein the HMI is a hand-held computing device including a computer-readable storage medium having executable instructions stored therein, a communication interface and a processor that is configured by executing the instructions, and wherein configuring includes;

    establishing, by the HMI using the communication interface, communication with the first robot,determining, by the HMI, a respective starting position within the formation for the first robot, wherein the respective starting position is a relative position within the formation,automatically defining, by the HMI, respective configuration settings for the first robot including at least a respective device identifier (ID), wherein the respective device ID is assigned as a function of the determined starting position and is defined irrespective of any pre-existing unique identifier assigned to the first robot,transferring, by the HMI using the communication interface, the configuration settings to the first robot, andrepeating the configuring step for the remaining robots in the formation, wherein the HMI assigns a unique device ID to each of the robots as a function of respective starting positions and wherein the device IDs are assigned sequentially according to the application-dependent formation;

    initiating coordinated operation of the group of robots according to the control program and the respective configuration settings.

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