Supervision and control of heterogeneous autonomous operations
First Claim
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1. A system comprising:
- a plurality of robotic vehicles;
a mission planner configured to generate a mission for the plurality of robotic vehicles, decomposing the mission into a plurality of tasks, and allocating at least one task of the plurality of tasks to one robotic vehicle group, wherein the mission comprises at least one of maintenance of an aircraft, service of the aircraft, component manufacturing of the aircraft, and subassembly manufacturing of the aircraft;
a plurality of mission controls configured to receive the mission from the mission planner and to execute the mission using the plurality of robotic vehicles, acting in concert;
an operator interface comprising an adaptive decision making module configured to determine whether a decision to be made by the adaptive decision making module with respect to the mission is critical or non-critical, wherein for a critical decision the decision must be made by an operator and for a non-critical decision the decision may be made by the adaptive decision making module or by the operator; and
a wireless communications system configured to provide communications among the plurality of robotic vehicles, the mission planner, the operator interface, and the mission control, wherein each of the robotic vehicles is in communication with each other, the mission planner, and the mission control, and each robotic vehicle in the plurality of robotic vehicles has an individual mission control from the plurality of mission controls, the individual mission control being configured to receive information about the mission from the robotic vehicles, identify a conflict in the mission; and
determine whether the individual mission control can resolve the conflict;
wherein the individual mission control is further configured to either resolve the conflict to form a solution and send the solution to the robotic vehicle in response to the determination that the individual mission control can resolve the conflict, or send a conflict report to the mission planner in response to the determination that the individual mission control cannot resolve the conflict.
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Abstract
The different advantageous embodiments may provide an apparatus that may include a number of robotic machine groups, a mission planner, and a mission control. The mission planner may be capable of generating a mission for the number of robotic machine groups. The mission control may be capable of executing the mission using the number of robotic machine groups.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a plurality of robotic vehicles; a mission planner configured to generate a mission for the plurality of robotic vehicles, decomposing the mission into a plurality of tasks, and allocating at least one task of the plurality of tasks to one robotic vehicle group, wherein the mission comprises at least one of maintenance of an aircraft, service of the aircraft, component manufacturing of the aircraft, and subassembly manufacturing of the aircraft; a plurality of mission controls configured to receive the mission from the mission planner and to execute the mission using the plurality of robotic vehicles, acting in concert; an operator interface comprising an adaptive decision making module configured to determine whether a decision to be made by the adaptive decision making module with respect to the mission is critical or non-critical, wherein for a critical decision the decision must be made by an operator and for a non-critical decision the decision may be made by the adaptive decision making module or by the operator; and a wireless communications system configured to provide communications among the plurality of robotic vehicles, the mission planner, the operator interface, and the mission control, wherein each of the robotic vehicles is in communication with each other, the mission planner, and the mission control, and each robotic vehicle in the plurality of robotic vehicles has an individual mission control from the plurality of mission controls, the individual mission control being configured to receive information about the mission from the robotic vehicles, identify a conflict in the mission; and
determine whether the individual mission control can resolve the conflict;wherein the individual mission control is further configured to either resolve the conflict to form a solution and send the solution to the robotic vehicle in response to the determination that the individual mission control can resolve the conflict, or send a conflict report to the mission planner in response to the determination that the individual mission control cannot resolve the conflict. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of robotic machine groups; a mission planner configured to generate a mission for the plurality of robotic machine groups, and to decompose the mission into a plurality of tasks, and allocate at least one task of the plurality of tasks to one robotic vehicle group in the plurality of robotic machine groups, wherein the mission comprises at least one of maintenance of an aircraft, service of the aircraft, component manufacturing of the aircraft, and subassembly manufacturing of the aircraft; a plurality of mission controls configured to execute the mission using the plurality of robotic machine groups; an operator interface comprising an adaptive decision making module configured to determine whether a decision to be made by the adaptive decision making module with respect to the mission is critical or non-critical, wherein for a critical decision the decision must be made by an operator and for a non-critical decision the decision may be made by the adaptive decision making module or by the operator; and a wireless communications system configured to provide communications with the plurality of robotic machine groups, the mission control, the operator interface, and the mission planner, wherein each robotic machine in the plurality of robotic machine groups is in communication with other robotic machines in a particular group, and each robotic vehicle in the plurality of robotic machine groups has an individual mission control from the plurality number of mission controls, the individual mission control being configured to receive information about the mission from the robotic vehicles, identify a conflict in the mission; and
determine whether the individual mission control can resolve the conflict,wherein the individual mission control is further configured to either resolve the conflict to form a solution and send the solution to the robotic vehicle in response to the determination that the individual mission control can resolve the conflict, or send a conflict report to the mission planner in response to the determination that the individual mission control cannot resolve the conflict. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for mission management, the method comprising:
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generating a mission plan for a mission comprising at least one of maintenance of an aircraft, service of the aircraft, component manufacturing of the aircraft, and subassembly manufacturing of the aircraft, wherein the mission plan is for a plurality of robotic vehicles groups; decomposing the mission plan into a plurality of tasks, and allocating at least one task of the plurality of tasks to one robotic vehicle group of the plurality of robotic vehicle groups; using a wireless communications system to provide communications with the plurality of robotic machine groups comprising groups of robotic vehicles, one of a plurality of mission controls, and a mission planner, wherein each robotic vehicle in a given group of robotic vehicles is in communication with each other; sending the mission plan to the plurality of robotic machine groups, including sending the at least one task to the one robotic vehicle group and wherein each robotic vehicle in the plurality of robotic vehicle groups has an individual mission control from the plurality of mission controls, the individual mission control being configured to receive information about the mission from the robotic vehicles, identify a conflict in the mission; and
determine whether the individual mission control can resolve the conflict;monitoring progress of the mission plan by the plurality of robotic machine groups; receiving data from the plurality of robotic machine groups about the mission plan; determining, by an adaptive decision making module in communication with the wireless communication system, whether a decision with respect to the mission plan is critical or non-critical, wherein for a critical decision the decision must be made by an operator and for a non-critical decision the decision may be made by the adaptive decision making module or by the operator; and either resolving the conflict to form a solution and sending the solution to a given robotic vehicle in response to the determination that the individual mission control can resolve the conflict, or sending a conflict report to the mission planner in response to the determination that the individual mission control cannot resolve the conflict. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of robotic machine groups comprising groups of robotic vehicles; a mission planner configured to generate a mission for the plurality of robotic machine groups, and to decompose the mission into a plurality of tasks, and allocate at least one task of the plurality of tasks to one robotic vehicle group of the plurality of robotic machine groups, wherein the mission comprises at least one of maintenance of an aircraft, service of the aircraft, component manufacturing of the aircraft, and subassembly manufacturing of the aircraft, and wherein the mission planner is further configured to perform a dynamic replication process; a plurality of mission controls configured to execute mission using the plurality of robotic machine groups; a wireless communications system configured to provide communications with the plurality of robotic machine groups, the mission control, and the mission planner, and each robotic vehicle in the plurality of robotic vehicle groups has an individual mission control from the plurality number of mission controls, the individual mission control being configured to receive information about the mission from the robotic vehicles, identify a conflict in the mission, and determine whether the individual mission control can resolve the conflict; wherein the individual mission control is further configured to either resolve the conflict to form a solution and send the solution to the robotic vehicle in response to the determination that the individual mission control can resolve the conflict, or send a conflict report to the mission planner in response to the determination that the individual mission control cannot resolve the conflict; a logistic planner configured to identify a number of tasks to execute the mission; a reflexive planner configured to modify the mission in response to a number of messages from the plurality of robotic machine groups; and an operator interface comprising an adaptive decision making module configured to determine whether a decision to be made by the adaptive decision making module with respect to the mission is critical or non-critical, wherein for a critical decision the decision must be made by an operator and for a non-critical decision the decision may be made by the adaptive decision making module or by the operator. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A method for mission management, the method comprising:
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generating a mission plan for a mission, wherein the mission comprises at least one of maintenance of an aircraft, service of the aircraft, component manufacturing of the aircraft, and subassembly manufacturing of the aircraft, wherein the mission plan is for a plurality of robotic vehicles groups; decomposing the mission plan into a plurality of tasks, and allocating at least one task of the plurality of tasks to one robotic vehicle group of the plurality of robotic vehicle groups; retrieving information from a plurality of databases using a wireless communications system; allocating a plurality of resources for the plurality of tasks in the mission plan; sending the mission plan to a plurality of robotic machine groups using the wireless communications system, wherein the plurality of robotic machines groups comprise groups of robotic vehicles, and wherein each robotic vehicle in a given group of robotic vehicles is in communication with each other, including sending the at least one task to the one robotic vehicle group and wherein each robotic vehicle in the plurality of robotic vehicle groups has an individual mission control from the plurality of mission controls, the individual mission control being configured to receive information about the mission from the robotic vehicles, identify a conflict in the mission; and
determine whether the individual mission control can resolve the conflict;monitoring progress of the mission plan by the plurality of robotic machine groups using the wireless communications system; receiving data from the plurality of robotic machine groups about the mission plan, using the wireless communications system; and determining, by an adaptive decision making module in communication with the wireless communication system, whether a decision with respect to the mission plan is critical or non-critical, wherein for a critical decision the decision must be made by an operator and for a non-critical decision the decision may be made by the adaptive decision making module or by the operator; and either resolving the conflict to form a solution and sending the solution to a given robotic vehicle in response to the determination that the individual mission control can resolve the conflict, or sending a conflict report to the mission planner in response to the determination that the individual mission control cannot resolve the conflict. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification