Rapid adjustment of trajectories for land vehicles

• US 6,643,576 B1
• Filed: 11/15/2001
• Issued: 11/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Novariant Incorporated (Kubota Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Integrinautics Corporation (Kubota Corporation)
• Inventors: Gutt, Gregory M., Eglington, Michael L., Bell, Thomas, Zimmerman, Kurt R., Leckie, Lars, O Connor, Michael L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US09/993,361
• Time in Patent Office: 719 Days
• Field of Search: 701/50, 701/23, 701/205, 701/207, 701/213, 701/224
• US Class Current: 701/50
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/2045 Guiding machines along a predetermined path for graders E02F3/841; machines for construction of roads E01C19/004
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/205 Remotely operated machines, e.g. unmanned vehicles E02F3/8866 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS

Abstract

A method for adjusting a desired trajectory of an automatically guided vehicle guidance system to match a physical constraint such as an obstacle or boundary. The method works around obstacles and boundaries as they occur, consistent with the original trajectory. The method is independent of the type of vehicle. The method may be used regardless of whether the vehicle is under automatic guidance, and the method has a low computational cost.

Claims

1. A system to directly maintain a vehicle on a desired path responsive to user-determined deviation therefrom, the system comprising:

a sensor to determine position of said vehicle as a function of time;

a controller including memory, functionally coupled to said sensor;

said memory storing-positional data defining said desired path, and further storing program instructions, executable by said controller, to compute any change in position of said vehicle and to compute any modifications in realtime to maintain said vehicle on said desired path responsive to any user-determined deviation;

means, coupled to said controller, for maintaining said vehicle according to said any modifications computed by said executable program; and

means for enabling a user of said vehicle to-input to said system said user-determined deviation from said desired path, whereupon said system responds to said user-determined deviation from said desired path and maintains said vehicle responsive to said user-determined deviation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said responsive to said user-determined deviation comprises directly maintaining said vehicle on a deviation path parallel to said desired path wherein a distance between said deviation path and said desired path is based on said user-determined deviation.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said user-determined deviation is selected from a group consisting of:

a right deviation to move said deviation path to the right, a left deviation to move said deviation path to the left, and a reset deviation to move said deviation path to said desired path.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said memory further stores positional data including any deviation from said desired path traversed by said vehicle;

wherein positional data stored by said memory is useable to define a new desired path.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said memory further stores said user-determined deviation with respect to a location on said desired path corresponding to the position of said vehicle when said user-determined deviation was input;

wherein said user-determined deviation stored by said memory is useable to define a new desired path.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for enabling said user of said vehicle to store said user-determined deviation as part of said desired path such that subsequent directly maintain a vehicle on said desired path includes said user-determined deviation without input from said user.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said user-determined deviation is stored with respect to a location on said desired path corresponding to the position of said vehicle when said user-determined deviation was input.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein change in position of said vehicle is computed incrementally.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said sensor includes a global positional satellite (GPS) receiver.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said vehicle is operable on land.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said user-determined deviation from said desired path identifies a lateral offset from said desired path, such that said system directly maintains said vehicle on said desired path responsive to said lateral offset.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said user-determined deviation from said desired path identifies a lateral offset from said desired path identifying a fractional width of said vehicle and enables one of a left lateral offset and a right lateral offset of said fractional width, such that said system directly maintains said vehicle on said desired path responsive to an accumulation of said lateral offset corresponding to a plurality of said user-determined deviation.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the system receives a first user-determined deviation and subsequently receives a second discrete offset, wherein said second discrete offset results in a computation to maintain said vehicle on said desired path.

14. A system to directly control and maintain a farm vehicle on a desired predetermined path responsive to user-determined deviation therefrom, the system comprising:

a sensor to determine position of said farm vehicle as a function of time;

a controller including memory, functionally coupled to said sensor;

said memory storing positional data defining said desired predetermined path, and further storing program instructions, executable by said controller, to compute any change in position of said vehicle and to compute any modifications in realtime to maintain said farm vehicle on said desired predetermined path responsive to any user-determined deviation;

means, coupled to said controller, for maintaining said farm vehicle on said desired predetermined path, responsive to any user-determined deviation, according to any change computed by said executable program; and

means for enabling a user of said farm vehicle to input to said system said user determined deviation from said desired predetermined path, whereupon said system responds to said user-determined deviation from said desired path and maintains said vehicle according to said user-determined deviation.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said task to be optimized includes irrigating an area whereon said desired predetermined path is defined.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein said memory further stores positional data including any deviation from said desired path traversed by said vehicle;

wherein positional data stored by said memory is useable to define a new predetermined desired path.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein said memory further stores positional data including any deviation from said desired path traversed by said vehicle;

wherein positional data stored by said memory defines a new predetermined desired path to be used in lieu of said predetermined desired path.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein said sensor includes a global positional satellite (GPS) receiver.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the user-determined deviation is input to avoid an obstacle.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the user-determined deviation is input to identify field discontinuities.

21. A system to directly maintain a vehicle on a desired path responsive to user-determined deviation therefrom, the system comprising:

means for sensing the position of said vehicle as a function of time;

means for controlling including memory, functionally coupled to said means for sensing;

said memory storing positional data defining said desired path, and further storing program instructions, executable by said means for controlling, to compute any change in position of said vehicle and to compute any modifications in realtime to maintain said vehicle on said desired path responsive to any-user-determined deviation;

means, coupled to said means for controlling, for maintaining said vehicle according to any modifications computed by said executable program; and

means for enabling a user of said vehicle to input to said system said user-determined deviation from said desired path, whereupon said system responds to said user-determined deviation from said desired path and controls and maintains said vehicle responsive to said user-determined deviation.