ROBOT DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM
First Claim
1. An autonomous robot development platform, comprising:
- a chassis including;
a differential drive including at least first and second differentially driven wheels,a proximity sensor directed toward a forward end of the chassis,a cliff sensor positioned toward the forward end of the chassis,a switch disposed proximally to a caster, anda sensor circuit connected to the proximity sensor, to the cliff sensor and to the switch;
an I/O circuit including at least one input and one output;
a bed formed in the chassis between the two differentially driven wheels and extending from the top to the bottom of the chassis, such that the robot'"'"'s center of gravity is located within the perimeter of the bed;
a plurality of mounts formed within the walls of the bed for mounting one or more payloads or modular attachments to the bed;
a control circuit connected to the differential drive, to the sensor circuit and to the I/O circuit and including a microprocessor;
a communication port provided within the bed, connected to the I/O circuit, and capable of receiving and transmitting responses to the formatted commands; and
a computer memory configured to store robot control instructions executable by the control circuit, the robot control instructions including a command interpreter routine and a serial input handler,wherein the command interpreter routine is configured to cause the control circuit to receive one or more formatted commands and to respond to the one or more formatted commands by initiating the serial input handler, andwherein the serial input handler is configured to cause the control circuit to communicate with the differential drive, the I/O circuit, the sensor circuit, or the communication port.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A modular robot development kit includes an extensible mobile robot platform and a programmable development module that connects to the mobile robot platform. The mobile robot platform includes a controller that executes robot behaviors concurrently and performs robot actions in accordance with robot control signals received from the development module, as modified by the concurrently running robot behaviors, as a safeguard against performing potentially damaging robot actions. Also, the user can develop software that is executed on the development module and which transmits the robot control signals to the mobile robot platform over the data communication link using a robot interface protocol. The robot interface protocol encapsulates potentially harmful user-developed software routines from the controller instructions executed by the controller of the mobile robot platform, while nonetheless enabling the user to effectively control the mobile robot platform using the robot control signals of the robot interface protocol.
256 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An autonomous robot development platform, comprising:
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a chassis including; a differential drive including at least first and second differentially driven wheels, a proximity sensor directed toward a forward end of the chassis, a cliff sensor positioned toward the forward end of the chassis, a switch disposed proximally to a caster, and a sensor circuit connected to the proximity sensor, to the cliff sensor and to the switch; an I/O circuit including at least one input and one output; a bed formed in the chassis between the two differentially driven wheels and extending from the top to the bottom of the chassis, such that the robot'"'"'s center of gravity is located within the perimeter of the bed; a plurality of mounts formed within the walls of the bed for mounting one or more payloads or modular attachments to the bed; a control circuit connected to the differential drive, to the sensor circuit and to the I/O circuit and including a microprocessor; a communication port provided within the bed, connected to the I/O circuit, and capable of receiving and transmitting responses to the formatted commands; and a computer memory configured to store robot control instructions executable by the control circuit, the robot control instructions including a command interpreter routine and a serial input handler, wherein the command interpreter routine is configured to cause the control circuit to receive one or more formatted commands and to respond to the one or more formatted commands by initiating the serial input handler, and wherein the serial input handler is configured to cause the control circuit to communicate with the differential drive, the I/O circuit, the sensor circuit, or the communication port. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An autonomous robot development platform, comprising:
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a chassis including a payload bed configured to mount one or more payload modules; a motorized drive system including at least first and second differentially driven wheels; and a control circuit connected to the differential drive, to the sensor circuit and to the I/O circuit and including a microprocessor and a computer memory, the computer memory configured to store robot control instructions executable by the microprocessor, the robot control instructions including; a command interface configured to receive one or more external commands, each external command including a header argument, and to convert the external commands into internal control values, a sensor virtualization level including a plurality of virtual sensor functions each corresponding to a sensor, virtual sensor functions configured to retrieve native sensor data, and to convert the native sensor data into sensor logic levels relative to the native sensor data, and a drive virtualization level including a plurality of virtual drive functions configured to convert the sensor logic levels and the internal control values into a set of native motor controls. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
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9. A modular robot, comprising:
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a mobile robot platform including a sensor, a drive train, an on-board controller, an expansion bay, and a first data communication port, the on-board controller including a first set of computer software instructions configured to communicate via the first data communication port in accordance with a predetermined robot interface protocol, to receive and process input from the sensor, to operate the mobile robot platform in accordance with one or more robot behaviors, and to operate the mobile robot platform to perform one or more robot actions; and a development module configured to detachably interface with the mobile robot platform and including a programmable processor, a second data communication port configured to interface with the first data communication port of the mobile robot platform, and a computer memory, wherein the development module includes a second set of computer software instructions configured to transmit a first robot control signal to the mobile robot platform in accordance with the robot interface protocol, the first robot control signal corresponding to at least one robot action or robot behavior, wherein the mobile robot platform is configured to perform the robot behavior corresponding to the first robot control signal, wherein the development module includes a third set of computer software instructions configured to transmit a second robot control signal querying the sensor of the mobile robot platform in accordance with the robot interface protocol and to receive sensor data from the mobile robot platform, and wherein the mobile robot platform is configured to receive a sensor reading from the sensor, to generate the sensor data based on the sensor reading, and to transmit the sensor data to the development module in accordance with the robot interface protocol. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification