Robot development platform
First Claim
1. An autonomous robot development platform, comprising:
- a chassis including;
a differential drive including at least first and second differentially driven wheels,anda sensor circuit connected to one or more sensors;
an I/O circuit including at least one input and one output;
a bed formed in the chassis between the two differentially driven wheels and extending from the top to the bottom of the chassis;
a plurality of mounts formed within the walls of the bed for mounting at least one external computing device having a wherein the at least one external computing device includes a processor;
a control circuit connected to the differential drive, to the sensor circuit, and to the I/O circuit and including a microprocessor;
a communication port provided within the bed and configured to connect the connection interface of the at least one external computing device to the control circuit via the I/O circuit; and
a computer memory configured to store robot control instructions executable by the control circuit, the robot control instructions including a command interpreter routine and a serial input handler,wherein the command interpreter routine is configured to cause the control circuit to receive one or more formatted commands and to respond to the one or more formatted commands by initiating the serial input handler, andwherein the serial input handler is configured to cause the control circuit to communicate with the differential drive, the I/O circuit, the sensor circuit, or the communication port.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A modular robot development kit includes an extensible mobile robot platform and a programmable development module that connects to the mobile robot platform. The mobile robot platform includes a controller that executes robot behaviors concurrently and performs robot actions in accordance with robot control signals received from the development module, as modified by the concurrently running robot behaviors, as a safeguard against performing potentially damaging robot actions. Also, the user can develop software that is executed on the development module and which transmits the robot control signals to the mobile robot platform over the data communication link using a robot interface protocol. The robot interface protocol encapsulates potentially harmful user-developed software routines from the controller instructions executed by the controller of the mobile robot platform, while nonetheless enabling the user to effectively control the mobile robot platform using the robot control signals of the robot interface protocol.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. An autonomous robot development platform, comprising:
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a chassis including; a differential drive including at least first and second differentially driven wheels, and a sensor circuit connected to one or more sensors; an I/O circuit including at least one input and one output; a bed formed in the chassis between the two differentially driven wheels and extending from the top to the bottom of the chassis; a plurality of mounts formed within the walls of the bed for mounting at least one external computing device having a wherein the at least one external computing device includes a processor; a control circuit connected to the differential drive, to the sensor circuit, and to the I/O circuit and including a microprocessor; a communication port provided within the bed and configured to connect the connection interface of the at least one external computing device to the control circuit via the I/O circuit; and a computer memory configured to store robot control instructions executable by the control circuit, the robot control instructions including a command interpreter routine and a serial input handler, wherein the command interpreter routine is configured to cause the control circuit to receive one or more formatted commands and to respond to the one or more formatted commands by initiating the serial input handler, and wherein the serial input handler is configured to cause the control circuit to communicate with the differential drive, the I/O circuit, the sensor circuit, or the communication port. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. The autonomous robot development platform according to claim further comprising:
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a motorized drive system including a drive virtualization level; at least one obstacle sensor including a sensor virtualization level; and a command input routine configured to relay data command packets to one or more serial input handlers, the serial input handlers configured to interpret the header arguments of data command packets and responsively do one or both of (i) execute one or more sensor virtualization routines configured to retrieve and format native sensor data into digital logic signals, and/or (ii) execute one or more drive virtualization functions configured to retrieve and format bearing and speed navigation instructions into native motor control signals.
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6. An autonomous robot development platform, comprising:
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a chassis including a bed configured to receive at least one wherein said at least one external computing device includes a processor; a motorized drive system including a differential drive and at least first and second differentially driven wheels; and a control circuit connected to the differential drive, a sensor circuit and an I/O circuit, the control circuit including a microprocessor and a computer memory, the computer memory configured to store robot control instructions executable by the microprocessor, the robot control instructions including; a command interface configured to receive one or more external commands from the at least one external computing device, each external command including a header argument, and to convert the external commands into internal control values, a sensor virtualization level including a plurality of virtual sensor functions corresponding to a sensor and configured to retrieve native sensor data and convert native sensor data into sensor logic levels relative to the native sensor data, and a drive virtualization level including a plurality of virtual drive functions configured to convert the sensor logic levels and the internal control values into a set of native motor controls. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. The autonomous robot development platform according to claim wherein the behaviors operate based on a set of modes,
wherein each mode corresponds to a state in which the development platform can operate, and wherein each mode is configured to execute in parallel with one or more of the other modes.
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9. A modular robot, comprising:
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a mobile robot platform including a sensor, a drive train, an on-board controller, an expansion bay, and a first data communication port, the on-board controller including a first set of computer software instructions configured to communicate via the first data communication port in accordance with a predetermined robot interface protocol, to receive and process input from the sensor, to operate the mobile robot platform in accordance with one or more robot behaviors, and to operate the mobile robot platform to perform one or more robot actions; and a development module comprising an external computing device and configured to detachably interface with the mobile robot platform and including a programmable processor, a second data communication port configured to interface with the first data communication port, and a computer memory, wherein the development module includes a second set of computer software instructions configured to transmit a first robot control signal to the mobile robot platform in accordance with the robot interface protocol, the first robot control signal corresponding to at least one robot action or robot behavior, wherein the mobile robot platform is configured to perform the robot behavior corresponding to the first robot control signal, wherein the development module includes a third set of computer software instructions configured to transmit a second robot control signal querying the sensor of the mobile robot platform in accordance with the robot interface protocol and to receive sensor data from the mobile robot platform, and wherein the mobile robot platform is configured to transmit sensor data to the development module in accordance with the robot interface protocol. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification