Real time collision detection
First Claim
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1. In a device having one or more moveable elements residing within a finite space, a method of detecting a collision state between an object within the finite space and a model of the one or more moveable elements, comprising the steps of:
- (a) determining relative strengths of a set of discrete points throughout the space, the relative strength of any point being a measure of the distance from that point to the object;
(b) storing values representative of the relative strengths in a memory;
(c) determining a set of values of relative strengths of a set of reference points by approximating a volume occupied by the model of the one or more moveable elements by a set of spheres, each sphere being centered at one of the reference points, the relative strength value of each reference point, corresponding to a radius of a sphere centered at that point;
(d) storing the set of values in a memory;
(e) identifying the discrete points that correspond in location to each of the reference points; and
,(f) comparing the stored values representative of the relative strengths of the reference points with the stored values representative of the relative strengths of the corresponding discrete points in the space, a collision state being detected when the ratio of any of the compared values representative of the relative strengths of the reference points and the values representative of the relative strengths of the corresponding discrete points in the space is greater than or equal to 1.
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Abstract
A method is provided for detecting a collision between a robot and one or more obstacles before it occurs. The robot is modeled by spheres in a voxelized workspace. Each voxel within the workspace is assigned a value which corresponds to its distance from the closest obstacle. A collision is determined to be imminent if the voxel value at the center of a sphere is less than the radius of the sphere in voxels.
195 Citations
9 Claims
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1. In a device having one or more moveable elements residing within a finite space, a method of detecting a collision state between an object within the finite space and a model of the one or more moveable elements, comprising the steps of:
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(a) determining relative strengths of a set of discrete points throughout the space, the relative strength of any point being a measure of the distance from that point to the object; (b) storing values representative of the relative strengths in a memory; (c) determining a set of values of relative strengths of a set of reference points by approximating a volume occupied by the model of the one or more moveable elements by a set of spheres, each sphere being centered at one of the reference points, the relative strength value of each reference point, corresponding to a radius of a sphere centered at that point; (d) storing the set of values in a memory; (e) identifying the discrete points that correspond in location to each of the reference points; and
,(f) comparing the stored values representative of the relative strengths of the reference points with the stored values representative of the relative strengths of the corresponding discrete points in the space, a collision state being detected when the ratio of any of the compared values representative of the relative strengths of the reference points and the values representative of the relative strengths of the corresponding discrete points in the space is greater than or equal to 1. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. In a device having at least one relatively moveable element, a method of detecting a collision state between an object and a model of the device comprising the steps of:
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a) determining the value of the strength of each of a plurality of voxels within a finite space, the strength of any voxel being an indicator of the distance from that voxel to the object; b) identifying the voxel strength at the center of one or more spheres which approximate a volume occupied by the model of the one or more moveable elements; and
,c) comparing the values of the strengths of the voxels at the centers of the one or more spheres respectively with radii of the one or more spheres, a collision state being detected when a compared value of the strength of the voxel at the center of a sphere is less than or equal to the value of the radius of that sphere. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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Specification