Monitoring, Diagnostic and Tracking Tool for Autonomous Mobile Robots

• US 20130085625A1
• Filed: 09/21/2012
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: St Engineering Aethon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Aethon
• Inventors: Swaney, Mark, Lucas, George F., Wolfe, David G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41895 using automatic guided vehicles [AGV] control of position or course of AGV's G05D1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0272 Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0287 involving a plurality of land vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00, particularly anticollision systems G08G1/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A system and method are provided for managing and prioritizing for action fleets of mobile robots deployed at various locations. The system/method includes a plurality of homebase servers, each corresponding to a different location, with each of the homebase servers receiving operational parameter data (representing operational and navigational issues experienced by the mobile robot) from a plurality of mobile robots operating at the particular location where the homebase server is deployed. A central server receives the operational parameter data from the plurality of homebase servers. The central server included a data analysis module for processing the operational parameter data and prioritizing the mobile robots operating at the various locations for action by support staff. A list is generated ranking the mobile robots in order of importance for action by support staff.

Claims

1. A system for managing and prioritizing for action fleets of mobile robots deployed at various locations, the system comprising:

a plurality of homebase servers, each corresponding to a different location, wherein each of the homebase servers receives operational parameter data from a plurality of mobile robots operating at a particular location; and

a central server receiving the operational parameter data from the plurality of homebase servers, the central server including a data analysis module processing the operational parameter data and prioritizing the mobile robots operating at the various locations for action by support staff.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operational parameter data represents operational and navigational issues experienced by the mobile robot.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data analysis module processes the operational data using a set of business rules.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the set of business rules are location and mobile robot specific.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data analysis module generates a list prioritizing the mobile robots and ranking them in order of importance for action by support staff.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the list generated by the data analysis module is accessed by the support staff using a web-based application, and wherein the list includes links to other information about the mobile robot and the location at which the mobile robot is operating.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the list generated by the data analysis module includes operational information about the mobile robot, and wherein the operational information is visually coded to identify potential critical issues.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein mobile robots appearing in the list generated by the data analysis module may be hidden for a predefined period of time, after which they will reappear on the list.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the data analysis module stores information related to various issues experienced by the mobile robots in a database.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the stored information related to various issues experienced by the mobile robots is used by the support staff to generate maps and charts illustrating the frequency of problems a mobile robot or location is experiencing.

11. A method of managing and prioritizing for action fleets of mobile robots deployed at various locations, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a homebase server deployed at a particular location, operational parameter data from a plurality of mobile robots operating at the particular location;

receiving, at a central server, the operational parameter data for the mobile robots from a plurality of homebase servers, each homebase server deployed at a different location;

analyzing, by a data analysis module at the central server, the operational parameter data for the mobile robots; and

prioritizing, by the data analysis module at the central server, the mobile robots operating at the various locations for action by support staff.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of displaying, by the data analysis module, a prioritized list to the support staff, the prioritized list ranking the mobile robots in order of importance for action by support staff.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the prioritized list is accessed by the support staff using a web-based application, and wherein the prioritized list includes links to other information about the mobile robot and the location at which the mobile robot is operating.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the prioritized list includes operational information about the mobile robot, and wherein the operational information is visually coded to identify potential critical issues.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein mobile robots appearing in the prioritized list may be hidden for a predefined period of time, after which they will reappear on the prioritized list.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of storing, by the data analysis module, information related to various issues experienced by the mobile robots in a database.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of analyzing the stored information related to various issues experienced by the mobile robots, and generating maps and/or charts illustrating the frequency of problems a mobile robot or location is experiencing.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the operational parameter data represents operational and navigational issues experienced by the mobile robot.

19. The system of claim 11, further comprising the step of processing, by the data analysis module, the operational parameter data for the mobile robots using a set of business rules.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the set of business rules are location and mobile robot specific.

21. A system for managing and prioritizing for action fleets of mobile robots deployed at various locations, the system comprising:

a central server receiving operational parameter data from a plurality of mobile robots operating at at least one location, the operational parameter data representing operational and navigational issues experienced by the mobile robot, wherein the central server includes a data analysis module processing the operational parameter data and prioritizing the mobile robots for action by support staff.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the data analysis module generates a list prioritizing the mobile robots and ranking them in order of importance for action by support staff.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the list generated by the data analysis module is accessed by the support staff using a web-based application, and wherein the list includes links to other information about the mobile robot and the location at which the mobile robot is operating.

24. A method of managing and prioritizing for action fleets of mobile robots deployed at various locations, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a central server, operational parameter data from a plurality of mobile robots operating at at least one location, the operational parameter data representing operational and navigational issues experienced by the mobile robot;

analyzing, by a data analysis module at the central server, the operational parameter data for the mobile robots; and

prioritizing, by the data analysis module at the central server, the mobile robots for action by support staff.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of displaying, by the data analysis module, a prioritized list to the support staff, the prioritized list ranking the mobile robots in order of importance for action by support staff.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the prioritized list is accessed by the support staff using a web-based application, and wherein the prioritized list includes links to other information about the mobile robot and the location at which the mobile robot is operating.