Granted Patent B1

US 10,857,679 · App. 16/120,082 · Granted Dec 8, 2020

Inventors: Steve Cousins (San Jose, CA); Robert S. Bauer (Portola Valley, CA); Adrian Canoso (Sunnyvale, CA); Heather Klaubert (San Jose, CA)

Assignee: Savioke, Inc.

B25J11/008B25J9/1666

Abstract

Claims (61)

1. A method for a robot to autonomously interact with elevator controls, the robot comprising a vertical structure with a button pushing element, the method comprising:

while the robot is physically traversing a route to a target location within an environment, determining that the route includes navigating to a particular floor that is different than a current floor of the robot;

the robot navigating to a set of one or more elevators along the route;

identifying a location of an elevator call button corresponding to the set of one or more elevators;

the robot navigating to the location of the elevator call button and pressing the elevator call button by rotating the robot in place until the vertical structure faces the elevator call button, extending or retracting the vertical structure until the button pushing element is aligned with the elevator call button, and moving towards the elevator call button and causing the button pushing element to press the elevator call button.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a location of the elevator call button comprises determining a height of the elevator call button, and wherein extending or retracting the vertical structure is based on the height of the elevator call button.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a location of the elevator call button comprises determining a direction of the elevator call button relative to the location of the robot, and wherein rotating the robot in place is based on the direction of the elevator call button.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the elevator call button is a particular elevator call button of an elevator button panel comprising a plurality of elevator call buttons, and wherein identifying a location of the elevator call button comprises determining a location of the particular elevator call button within the elevator button panel.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting a particular elevator of the set of one or more elevators;

calculating a route to the particular elevator;

detecting arrival of a particular elevator of the set of one or more elevators, and physically traversing the route to enter the particular elevator.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising determining whether the particular elevator is travelling in a direction of the particular floor and selecting the particular elevator in response to determining that the elevator is travelling in the direction of the particular floor.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

identifying a location of a floor button corresponding to the particular floor;

navigation to the location of the floor button corresponding to the particular floor and pressing the floor button corresponding to the particular floor, wherein pressing the floor button comprises:

rotating the robot in place until the vertical structure faces the floor button;

extending or retracting the vertical structure until the button pushing element is aligned with the floor button;

moving towards the elevator call button and causing the button pushing element to press the floor button.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the floor button is a particular floor button of an elevator button panel comprising a plurality of floor buttons, and wherein identifying a location of the elevator call button comprises determining a location of the particular floor button within the elevator button panel.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

calculating a route to a door of the particular elevator;

detecting arrival of the particular elevator at the particular floor, and physically traversing the route to exit the particular elevator.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein detecting arrival of the particular elevator at the particular floor comprises:

detecting opening of the door of the particular elevator;

in response to detecting opening of the door of the particular elevator, determining a current floor using one or more sensors of the robot;

determining whether the current floor is the particular floor.

11. A robot comprising:

one or more sensors that collect data;

one or more processors;

a vertical structure comprising a button pushing element;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performing:

while the robot is physically traversing a route to a target location within an environment, determining that the route includes navigating to a particular floor that is different than a current floor of the robot;

the robot navigating to a set of one or more elevators along the route;

identifying a location of an elevator call button corresponding to the set of one or more elevators;

the robot navigating to the location of the elevator call button and pressing the elevator call button, wherein pressing the elevator call button comprises:

rotating in place until the vertical structure faces the elevator call button;

extending or retracting the vertical structure until the button pushing element is aligned with the elevator call button;

moving towards the elevator call button and causing the button pushing element to press the elevator call button.

12. The robot of claim 11 wherein identifying a location of the elevator call button comprises determining a height of the elevator call button, and wherein extending or retracting the vertical structure is based on the height of the elevator call button.

13. The robot of claim 11 wherein identifying a location of the elevator call button comprises determining a direction of the elevator call button relative to the location of the robot, and wherein rotating the robot in place is based on the direction of the elevator call button.

14. The robot of claim 11 wherein the elevator call button is a particular elevator call button of an elevator button panel comprising a plurality of elevator call buttons, and wherein identifying a location of the elevator call button comprises determining a location of the particular elevator call button within the elevator button panel.

15. The robot of claim 11 further storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performing:

selecting a particular elevator of the set of one or more elevators;

calculating a route to the particular elevator;

detecting arrival of a particular elevator of the set of one or more elevators, and physically traversing the route to enter the particular elevator.

16. The robot of claim 15 further storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performing determining whether the particular elevator is travelling in a direction of the particular floor, and selecting the particular elevator in response to determining that the elevator is travelling in the direction of the particular floor.

17. The robot of claim 15 further storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performing:

identifying a location of a floor button corresponding to the particular floor;

navigation to the location of the floor button corresponding to the particular floor and pressing the floor button corresponding to the particular floor, wherein pressing the floor button comprises:

rotating the robot in place until the vertical structure faces the floor button;

extending or retracting the vertical structure until the button pushing element is aligned with the floor button;

moving towards the elevator call button and causing the button pushing element to press the floor button.

18. The robot of claim 17 wherein the floor button is a particular floor button of an elevator button panel comprising a plurality of floor buttons, and wherein identifying a location of the elevator call button comprises determining a location of the particular floor button within the elevator button panel.

19. The robot of claim 17 further storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performing:

calculating a route to a door of the particular elevator;

detecting arrival of the particular elevator at the particular floor, and physically traversing the route to exit the particular elevator.

20. The robot of claim 19 wherein detecting arrival of the particular elevator at the particular floor comprises:

detecting opening of the door of the particular elevator;

in response to detecting opening of the door of the particular elevator, determining a current floor using the one or more sensors of the robot;

determining whether the current floor is the particular floor.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

Cited By (12)

US 12,226,355 US 12,350,206 US 12,375,490 US 12,380,754 US 12,387,544 US 12,393,205 US 12,424,044 US 12,518,582 US 12,566,441 US 12,611,777 US 12,662,351 US 12,669,592