METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING ACCURATE LOCALIZATION FOR AN INDUSTRIAL VEHICLE

• US 20120303255A1
• Filed: 05/26/2011
• Published: 11/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Inro Technologies Limited
• Inventors: GRAHAM, ANDREW EVAN, GOODE, CHRISTOPHER W., WONG, LISA
• Application Number:
  US13/116,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20120303255A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/063 Automatically guided
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing accurate localization at an industrial vehicle is described. In one embodiment, the method includes processing at least one sensor input message from a plurality of sensor devices, wherein the at least one sensor input message comprises information regarding environmental features, determining pose measurements associated with the industrial vehicle in response to each acquisition time of the at least one sensor input message and updating map data with the determined pose measurements.

Claims

1. A method for providing accurate localization at an industrial vehicle, comprising:

processing at least one sensor input message from a plurality of sensor devices, wherein the at least one sensor input message comprises information regarding environmental features;

determining pose measurements associated with the industrial vehicle in response to each acquisition time of the at least one sensor input message; and

updating a vehicle state using the pose measurements.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising navigating the industrial vehicle based on the updated vehicle state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the pose measurements further comprises correcting the information regarding the environmental features in response to industrial vehicle movement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the pose measurements further comprises rearranging the at least one sensor input message according to the each acquisition time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the pose measurements further comprises examining the at least one sensor input message in order of acquisition time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the pose measurements further comprises in response to a trigger message, integrating odometry data when determining the pose measurements.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the vehicle state further comprises updating a pose prediction using the pose measurements.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the vehicle state further comprises delaying the updating step in response to the at least one sensor input message.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising predicting a current vehicle state using odometry data and the updated vehicle state.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the odometry data corresponds with an acquisition time that is after an acquisition time of a trigger message.

11. An apparatus for providing accurate localization at an industrial vehicle, comprising:

a computer coupled to the industrial vehicle and a plurality of sensors, comprising;

an environment based navigation module for processing at least one sensor input message from a plurality of sensors, wherein the at least one sensor input message comprises information regarding environmental features, determining pose measurements associated with the industrial vehicle in response to each acquisition time of the at least one sensor input message and updating a vehicle state using the determined pose measurements.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the environment based navigation module rearranges the at least one sensor input message according to the each acquisition time.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the environment based navigation module corrects the information regarding the environmental features in response to industrial vehicle movement.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising another computer coupled to the computer, wherein the other computer comprises a manager for communicating tasks to the computer.

18. The computer-readable-storage medium of claim 14 further comprising one or more processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:

storing the at least one sensor input message within a queue according to the each acquisition time.

19. The computer-readable-storage medium of claim 14 further comprising one or more processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:

examining the at least one sensor input message in order of acquisition time.

20. The computer-readable-storage medium of claim 14 further comprising one or more processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:

in response to a trigger message, integrating odometry data when determining the pose measurements.

15. A computer-readable-storage medium comprising one or more processor-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:

process at least one sensor input message from a plurality of sensor devices, wherein the at least one sensor input message comprises information regarding environmental features;

determine the pose measurements associated with the industrial vehicle in response to each acquisition time of the at least one sensor input message; and

update map data associated with the modified pose measurements.

16. The computer-readable-storage medium of claim 15 further comprising one or more processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:

rearranging the at least one sensor input message according to the each acquisition time.

17. The computer-readable-storage medium of claim 15 further comprising one or more processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to:

correcting the information regarding the environmental features in response to industrial vehicle movement.