Systems and methods employing coded light to dock aerial drones, self-driving cars and surface robots
First Claim
1. An autonomous vehicle guidance system comprising:
- a. a projector configured to project a temporal projector light signal, wherein the temporal projector light signal is encoded, for each pixel of the projector, with an information segment comprising the pixel coordinates of the each pixel of the projector; and
b. an autonomous vehicle comprising a light sensor and an onboard computer operatively coupled to the light sensor, wherein the light sensor is configured to detect the temporal projector light signal and generate a sensor signal and wherein the onboard computer is configured to receive the sensor signal from the light sensor, to determine a location information of the autonomous vehicle based on the detected temporal projector light signal and to issue a guidance command to guide the autonomous vehicle to a base based on the detected temporal projector light signal, wherein the autonomous vehicle further comprises a second light sensor configured to detect the temporal projector light signal and generate a second sensor signal, and wherein a distance from the autonomous vehicle to the base is determined from the respective sensor signals.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Precision docking is one of the most important tasks for drones and surface robots to charge themselves and load/unload packages. Without accurate docking, surface robots and drones will miss their charging pad or charging contacts and cannot automatically charge themselves for later tasks. Described is a system using coded light to guide the precision docking process for drones and ground robots. More specifically, the system uses projectors to project temporal identifiers for space partitioned by pixel projections. Different space partition gets a different identifier. By using a simple light sensor on a drone or a ground robot, the drone or the ground robot can know its precise location in the space and therefore knows where to move for a precise docking. Depending on docking precision requirement, the coded light precision may be adjusted by using projectors with different resolutions.
42 Citations
21 Claims
-
1. An autonomous vehicle guidance system comprising:
-
a. a projector configured to project a temporal projector light signal, wherein the temporal projector light signal is encoded, for each pixel of the projector, with an information segment comprising the pixel coordinates of the each pixel of the projector; and b. an autonomous vehicle comprising a light sensor and an onboard computer operatively coupled to the light sensor, wherein the light sensor is configured to detect the temporal projector light signal and generate a sensor signal and wherein the onboard computer is configured to receive the sensor signal from the light sensor, to determine a location information of the autonomous vehicle based on the detected temporal projector light signal and to issue a guidance command to guide the autonomous vehicle to a base based on the detected temporal projector light signal, wherein the autonomous vehicle further comprises a second light sensor configured to detect the temporal projector light signal and generate a second sensor signal, and wherein a distance from the autonomous vehicle to the base is determined from the respective sensor signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method for guiding an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
-
a. using a projector to project a temporal projector light signal, wherein the temporal projector light signal is encoded, for each pixel of the projector, with an information segment comprising the pixel coordinates of the each pixel of the projector; b. detecting the temporal projector light signal using a light sensor of an autonomous vehicle and generating corresponding sensor signal; c. detecting the temporal projector light signal using a second light sensor of an autonomous vehicle and generating a corresponding second sensor signal; and d. using an onboard computer of the autonomous vehicle to receive the sensor signal, to determine location of the autonomous vehicle based on the detected temporal projector light signal and to issue a guidance command to guide the autonomous vehicle to a base based on the detected temporal projector light signal, wherein a distance from the autonomous vehicle to the base is determined from the respective sensor signals.
-
-
21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a set of instructions implementing a method for guiding an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
-
a. using a projector to project a temporal projector light signal, wherein the temporal projector light signal is encoded, for each pixel of the projector, with an information segment comprising the pixel coordinates of the each pixel of the projector; b. detecting the temporal projector light signal using a light sensor of an autonomous vehicle and generating corresponding sensor signal; c. detecting the temporal projector light signal using a second light sensor of an autonomous vehicle and generating a corresponding second sensor signal; and d. using an onboard computer of the autonomous vehicle to receive the sensor signal, to determine location of the autonomous vehicle based on the detected temporal projector light signal and to issue a guidance command to guide the autonomous vehicle to a base based on the detected temporal projector light signal, wherein a distance from the autonomous vehicle to the base is determined from the respective sensor signals.
-
Specification