Enhanced environment simulator for proxy robot handlers
First Claim
1. An omnidirectional treadmill environment simulator comprising:
- a generally circular simulator stage area;
a first set of a plurality of tiles individually shaped as unattached equilateral triangles which mesh together to form the generally circular simulator stage;
a second set of a plurality of tiles directly corresponding to the first set of the plurality of tiles but inverted from the first set, wherein the second set of the plurality of tiles constitutes the bottom portion of the omnidirectional treadmill;
a plurality of transport mechanisms configured to maintain a user at or near the center of the generally circular simulator stage area,wherein each of the plurality of transport mechanisms couples one subset of tiles from the first set of tiles to a corresponding subset of tiles from the second set of tiles and enables movement of its coupled tile subsets in one of two directions of an axis, andwherein the plurality of transport mechanisms is operational to enable movement of the tile subsets along three different axes;
at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to collect position data of the user, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to process the position data to control the plurality of transport mechanisms;
a receiver for receiving data from a remote location;
a terrain analysis computer for processing the data received from the remote location,wherein the terrain analysis computer is further configured to collect the data received from the remote location to form an accurate simulation of an upcoming condition at the remote location; and
a transmitter for transmitting the position data to the remote location.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An omnidirectional treadmill environment simulator is disclosed. The omnidirectional treadmill environment simulator includes a circular simulator stage area, a plurality of transport mechanisms that maintain an object at or near the center of a circular simulator stage area and at least one processor. The processor is configured to collect position data of the object and process the position data to control the transport mechanisms. Also included is a receiver for receiving data from a remote location and a terrain analysis computer for processing the data received from the remote location. The terrain analysis computer collects the data received from the remote location to form an accurate simulation of an upcoming condition at the remote location. The omnidirectional treadmill environment simulator includes a transmitter for transmitting the position data to a remote location.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An omnidirectional treadmill environment simulator comprising:
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a generally circular simulator stage area; a first set of a plurality of tiles individually shaped as unattached equilateral triangles which mesh together to form the generally circular simulator stage; a second set of a plurality of tiles directly corresponding to the first set of the plurality of tiles but inverted from the first set, wherein the second set of the plurality of tiles constitutes the bottom portion of the omnidirectional treadmill; a plurality of transport mechanisms configured to maintain a user at or near the center of the generally circular simulator stage area, wherein each of the plurality of transport mechanisms couples one subset of tiles from the first set of tiles to a corresponding subset of tiles from the second set of tiles and enables movement of its coupled tile subsets in one of two directions of an axis, and wherein the plurality of transport mechanisms is operational to enable movement of the tile subsets along three different axes; at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to collect position data of the user, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to process the position data to control the plurality of transport mechanisms; a receiver for receiving data from a remote location; a terrain analysis computer for processing the data received from the remote location, wherein the terrain analysis computer is further configured to collect the data received from the remote location to form an accurate simulation of an upcoming condition at the remote location; and a transmitter for transmitting the position data to the remote location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for simulating a remote environment utilizing an omnidirectional treadmill with a plurality of equilateral triangular tiles comprising:
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transporting a set of the plurality of tiles along one axis across the top of the simulator stage area, down one side, across the bottom and up the opposite side in a continuous loop by at least one of a plurality of transport mechanisms, wherein unattached individual tiles mesh together to form a floor of the simulator stage and inverted unattached tiles mesh together at the bottom of the omnidirectional treadmill; maintaining a treadmill user at or near the center of the simulator stage by collecting user position data by at least one processor; processing the user position data by the at least one processor to control the plurality of transport mechanisms; engaging each of the plurality of transport mechanisms as needed to enable movement of tile sets across the simulator stage in three different axes and two directions for each of the three different axes to maintain the user at or near the center of the generally circular stage; receiving data from a remote location; processing the remote location data by a terrain analysis computer, wherein the terrain analysis computer is further configured to process the data received from the remote location to form an accurate simulation of an upcoming condition at the remote location; and transmitting the user position data to the remote location. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification