Seismic sensor deployment with a stereographically configured robot
First Claim
1. A robot for automated deployment of a seismic sensor in a geographic region, the robot comprising:
- a satellite receiver and a plurality of inertial sensors configured to determine at least one of a location and an orientation of the robot;
an imager including two or more cameras rotatably mounted on an imager base configured to capture stereo images; and
circuitry configured to;
generate a map of the geographic region, wherein the map includes a plurality of grid cells, a first grid cell including an initial starting point of the robot and a last grid cell including a target point corresponding to a location for deploying the seismic sensor,assign each grid cell a reward value based on at least one of a surface elevation of the geographic region in the grid cell and a soil hardness factor of the geographic region in the grid cell,compute iteratively, a plurality of utility values for each grid cell, an utility value of the plurality of utility values corresponding to a movement of the robot from the grid cell to an adjacent grid cell, each utility value being computed based on a corresponding reward value of the grid cell and a discount factor, wherein a magnitude of the plurality of utility values is equal to a number of neighboring grid cells of the grid cell,determine an action for each grid cell of the plurality of grid cells based on the computed utility values of each grid cell, wherein the action is an expected direction of movement of the robot in the grid cell, the expected direction of movement in the grid cell maximizing a discounted sum of reward values of the grid cells,compute, based on the determined actions, a global path as a concatenation of actions for/of each grid cell starting from the first grid cell and terminating at the last grid cell,monitor a current location of the robot based on at least one of the satellite receiver and the plurality of inertial sensors, to determine whether a deviation of the robot from the global path exceeds a predetermined threshold deviation, andcompute a second path for the robot based on at least one of the monitored location of the robot when the deviation of the robot from the global path exceeds the predetermined threshold deviation and an obstacle being detected in the global path by the imager.
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Abstract
Described herein a robot assisted method of deploying sensors in a geographic region. The method of deploying sensors is posed as a Markovian decision process. The robot assigns each grid cell in a map of the geographic region a reward value based on a surface elevation of the geographic region and a soil hardness factor. Further, the robot determines an action for each grid cell of the plurality of grid cells, wherein the action corresponds to an expected direction of movement of the robot in the grid cell. The robot computes a global path as a concatenation of actions starting from a first grid cell and terminating at a second grid cell. The method monitors the movement of the robot on the computed global path and computes a second path based on a deviation of the robot from the global path.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A robot for automated deployment of a seismic sensor in a geographic region, the robot comprising:
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a satellite receiver and a plurality of inertial sensors configured to determine at least one of a location and an orientation of the robot; an imager including two or more cameras rotatably mounted on an imager base configured to capture stereo images; and circuitry configured to; generate a map of the geographic region, wherein the map includes a plurality of grid cells, a first grid cell including an initial starting point of the robot and a last grid cell including a target point corresponding to a location for deploying the seismic sensor, assign each grid cell a reward value based on at least one of a surface elevation of the geographic region in the grid cell and a soil hardness factor of the geographic region in the grid cell, compute iteratively, a plurality of utility values for each grid cell, an utility value of the plurality of utility values corresponding to a movement of the robot from the grid cell to an adjacent grid cell, each utility value being computed based on a corresponding reward value of the grid cell and a discount factor, wherein a magnitude of the plurality of utility values is equal to a number of neighboring grid cells of the grid cell, determine an action for each grid cell of the plurality of grid cells based on the computed utility values of each grid cell, wherein the action is an expected direction of movement of the robot in the grid cell, the expected direction of movement in the grid cell maximizing a discounted sum of reward values of the grid cells, compute, based on the determined actions, a global path as a concatenation of actions for/of each grid cell starting from the first grid cell and terminating at the last grid cell, monitor a current location of the robot based on at least one of the satellite receiver and the plurality of inertial sensors, to determine whether a deviation of the robot from the global path exceeds a predetermined threshold deviation, and compute a second path for the robot based on at least one of the monitored location of the robot when the deviation of the robot from the global path exceeds the predetermined threshold deviation and an obstacle being detected in the global path by the imager. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of automated deployment of a seismic sensor in a geographic region by a robot, the method comprising:
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determining, by a satellite receiver and a plurality of inertial sensors, at least one of a location and an orientation of the robot; capturing by an imager, including two or more cameras rotatably mounted on an imager base and configured to capture stereography, stereo images of the geographic region; generating by circuitry, a map of the geographic region, wherein the map includes a plurality of grid cells, a first grid cell including an initial starting point of the robot and a last grid cell including a target point corresponding to a location for deploying the seismic sensor; compute iteratively, a plurality of utility values for each grid cell, an utility value of the plurality of utility values corresponding to a movement of the robot from the grid cell to an adjacent grid cell, each utility value being computed based on a corresponding reward value of the grid cell and a discount factor, wherein a magnitude of the plurality of utility values is equal to a number of neighboring grid cells of the grid cell, determine an action for each grid cell of the plurality of grid cells based on the computed utility values of each grid cell, wherein the action is an expected direction of movement of the robot in the grid cell, the expected direction of movement in the grid cell maximizing a discounted sum of reward values of the grid cells, compute, based on the determined actions, a global path as concatenation of actions for/of each grid cell starting from the first grid cell and terminating at the last grid cell, monitor a current location of the robot based on at least one of the satellite receiver and the plurality of inertial sensors, to determine whether a deviation of the robot from the global path exceeds a predetermined threshold deviation, and compute a second path for the robot based on at least one of the monitored location of the robot when the deviation of the robot from the global path exceeds the predetermined threshold deviation and an obstacle being detected in the global path by the imager. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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Specification