System for guidance of a robot through a passenger cabin of an aircraft

• US 10,775,807 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2018
• Issued: 09/15/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH (Airbus SE)
• Inventors: Zybala, Andre, Carmona-Puga, Guillermo
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Coduroglu, Jalal C
• Application Number:
  US16/021,504
• Publication Number:
  US 20190004540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 810 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/0007 Devices specially adapted for food or beverage distribution services
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0265 using buried wires
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/03 using near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive-loop type G05D1/021 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/44 for aircrafts
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/40 using two or more transmitting or receiving devices H02J50/50 takes precedence

Abstract

A system for guidance of a robot through a passenger cabin of an aircraft on at least a part of a defined system of paths including a robot, having at least one secondary coil, a field of coils including N primary coils being integrated in the floor of the passenger cabin of an aircraft, the arrangement of the primary coils defining a system of paths of the robot, and a control system for positioning of and energy provision to the robot including a command unit for sending instructions to the robot, so that the robot can reach a specific position of the defined system of paths.

Claims

1. A system for guidance of a robot through a passenger cabin of an aircraft on at least a part of a defined system of paths, comprising:

a robot, having at least one secondary coil;

a field of coils comprising a plurality of N primary coils being integrated in a floor of the passenger cabin of an aircraft, an arrangement of the primary coils defining a system of paths of the robot; and

a control system for positioning of and energy provision to the robot comprising;

a command unit for sending instructions to the robot, so that the robot can reach a specific position of the defined system of paths;

wherein the primary coils which correspond to the specific position of the system of paths can be dynamically activated, with a result that a magnetic field for guiding the robot is generated,

wherein the at least one secondary coil has a radio-based transmitting/receiving system, and

wherein each of the N primary coils has a radio-based transmitting/receiving system, and wherein, when the at least one secondary coil is at least partially above one of the primary coils, energy and/or data can be bidirectionally transmitted to and from the at least one secondary coil of the robot in a contactless manner via at least one respective primary coil by the radio-based transmitting/receiving system.

2. The system for guidance of a robot according to claim 1, further comprising at least one interface for connecting one or more aircraft-associated systems to the control system, with a result that bidirectional data transmission can be carried out between one or more aircraft-associated systems and the control system.

3. The system for guidance of a robot according to claim 1, wherein one or more aircraft-associated systems are a flight attendant panel and/or a cabin data backbone.

4. The system for guidance of a robot according to claim 1, comprising a navigation map which represents a position of the robot with respect to objects in the passenger cabin of an aircraft with aid of an algorithm taking into account a size of the N primary coils and dimensions of the aircraft cabin.

5. The system for guidance of a robot according to claim 1, wherein at least some of the primary coils comprise an identification for positioning the robot with seating row accuracy.

6. The system for guidance of a robot according to claim 1, wherein energy transmission is 60 W to 400 W.

7. The system for guidance of a robot according to claim 1, wherein induction-based data transfer between the at least one secondary coil and at least one of the N primary coils is 115 kbit/s.

8. The system for guidance of a robot according to claim 1, wherein radio-based data transfer between the at least one secondary coil and at least one of the N primary coils is 400 Mbit/s.

16. An aircraft having a system for guidance of a robot through a passenger cabin of an aircraft according to claim 1.

9. A robot having a radio-based transmitting/receiving system for contactlessly receiving energy and contactlessly receiving and/or transmitting data, comprising:

at least one secondary coil with a radio-based transmitting/receiving system;

a motor;

a processor for actuating the at least one motor to perform a desired movement of the robot in an aircraft cabin; and

an energy supply unit for adapting the energy to energy values required by the robot.

10. The robot according to claim 9, wherein the robot comprises two secondary coils each with a radio-based transmitting/receiving system, and further comprising a dual-coil interface to receive energy from a field of coils having a plurality of N primary coils, wherein the radio-based transmitting/receiving systems are redundantly designed.

11. The robot according to claim 9, further comprising a rechargeable battery or a battery.

12. The robot according to claim 9, further comprising an interface for interacting with persons.

13. The robot according to claim 9, further comprising an interface for interacting with a passenger supply unit.

14. The robot according to claim 9, wherein the robot is in a form of a cabin trolley.

15. The robot according to claim 9, wherein the robot has omnidirectional wheels.

17. An aircraft comprising a system for guidance of a robot through a passenger cabin of an aircraft, the robot having a radio-based transmitting/receiving system for contactlessly receiving energy and contactlessly receiving and/or transmitting data, the robot comprising:

at least one secondary coil with a radio-based transmitting/receiving system;

a motor;

a processor for actuating the at least one motor to perform a desired movement of the robot in an aircraft cabin; and

an energy supply unit for adapting the energy to energy values required by the robot.

18. The aircraft according to claim 17 wherein the robot is in a form of a cabin trolley.