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Autonomous navigation through obstacles

  • US 9,709,990 B2
  • Filed: 12/21/2012
  • Issued: 07/18/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A computer-implemented method for navigating a mobile automated system through obstacles, the method comprising:

  • receiving image sensor data from one or more sensors, the image sensor data including left image sensor data related to a left portion of a field of view of the one or more sensors and right image sensor data related to a right portion of the field of view of the one or more sensors;

    prior to determining a left obstacle image density, estimating one or more left obstacle parameters describing obstacles on the left portion of the field of view based at least in part on the left image sensor data, the one or more left obstacle parameters including a first number of obstacles on the left portion of the field of view;

    prior to determining a right obstacle image density, estimating one or more right obstacle parameters describing obstacles on the right portion of the field of view based at least in part on the right image sensor data, the one or more right obstacle parameters including a second number of obstacles on the right portion of the field of view;

    determining the left obstacle image density describing a density of the obstacles on the left portion of the field of view for a path from a start point to a navigating destination based at least in part on one or more values associated with the one or more left obstacle parameters, the left obstacle image density being a first vector having a vector length proportional to the first number of obstacles on the left portion of the field of view;

    determining the right obstacle image density describing a density of the obstacles on the right portion of the field of view for the path from the start point to the navigating destination based at least in part on one or more values associated with the one or more right obstacle parameters, the right obstacle image density being a second vector having a vector length proportional to the second number of obstacles on the right portion of the field of view;

    generating a net density based on the left obstacle image density and the right obstacle image density, the net density being a vector sum of the first vector having the vector length proportional to the first number of obstacles on the left portion of the field of view and the second vector having the vector length proportional to the second number of obstacles on the right portion of the field of view;

    generating a direction vector based on the net density, the direction vector indicating a navigating direction for navigating the mobile automated system to the navigating destination;

    determining a first navigating velocity for navigating the mobile automated system to the navigating destination based at least in part on the navigating direction; and

    generating one or more first navigating commands to navigate the mobile automated system to the navigating destination based at least in part on the first navigating velocity.

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