Systems and methods to implement preferred pathways in mobile robots

1. A method to implement preferred pathways at an autonomous mobile robot, the method comprising:

determining, by one or more computer processors coupled to memory, a preferred pathway for the autonomous mobile robot, the preferred pathway indicative of a preferred route between two locations;

receiving data associated with the preferred pathway at the autonomous mobile robot;

generating an influence function for the preferred pathway, the influence function being representative of an amount of bias towards the preferred pathway on a motion planning decision of the autonomous mobile robot, wherein the amount of bias being is based at least in part on a current distance between the autonomous mobile robot and the preferred pathway;

generating a planned path based at least in part on the influence function; and

causing the autonomous mobile robot to move from a start point to an end point along the planned path.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the motion planning decision is based at least in part on an initial cost function, the initial cost function being configured to reduce a cost of travel for the autonomous mobile robot from the start point to the end point, and wherein the cost of travel is distance and time.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the planned path based at least in part on the influence function comprises:

generating a derived cost function for the autonomous mobile robot based at least in part on the initial cost function and the influence function, the derived cost function being configured to modify the cost of travel by accounting for the amount of bias toward the preferred pathway; and

generating an optimal planned path based at least in part on the derived cost function, the derived cost function including effects of the influence function.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein generating the derived cost function includes:

generating a function to reduce the cost of travel as the distance of the autonomous mobile robot from the preferred pathway decreases.

5. A method comprising:

obtaining, via at least one of a user interface and a corresponding Application Programming Interface (API) call, at least one preferred pathway for an autonomous mobile robot;

transmitting the at least one preferred pathway to the autonomous mobile robot;

generating a planned path for the autonomous mobile robot based at least in part on an influence function, the influence function being representative of an amount of bias towards the at least one preferred pathway on a motion planning decision of the autonomous mobile robot, wherein the amount of bias is based at least in part on a current distance between the autonomous mobile robot and the at least one preferred pathway; and

causing the autonomous mobile robot to move from a start point to an end point along the planned path.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the metric associated with the at least one preferred pathway is a distance of the autonomous mobile robot to the at least one preferred pathway.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

generating the influence function for the at least one preferred pathway; and

transmitting the influence function to the autonomous mobile robot.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the motion planning decision is based at least in part on one or more of: (i) an initial cost function, the initial cost function being configured to reduce a cost of travel for the autonomous mobile robot from the start point to the end point, and wherein the cost of travel is distance and/or time, wherein the cost is increased as distance from the preferred pathway is increased, or the cost is decreased as distance from the preferred pathway is increased.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the planned path further includes:

generating a derived cost function for the autonomous mobile robot based at least in part on the initial cost function and the influence function, the derived cost function being configured to modify the cost of travel by accounting for the amount of bias toward the at least one preferred pathway; and

generating an optimal planned path based at least in part on the derived cost function, the derived cost function including effects of the influence function.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the derived cost function includes:

generating a function to reduce the cost of travel as the distance of the autonomous mobile robot from the at least one preferred pathway decreases.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating the derived cost function includes:

in response to the motion of the autonomous mobile robot being aligned in a direction of the at least one preferred pathway, generating a function to reduce the cost of travel as the distance of the autonomous mobile robot from the at least one preferred pathway decreases, thereby biasing the autonomous mobile robot towards the at least one preferred pathway; and

in response to the motion of the autonomous mobile robot being in an opposite direction to the at least one preferred pathway, generating a function to increase the cost of travel as the distance of the autonomous mobile robot from the at least one preferred pathway decreases, thereby biasing the autonomous mobile robot away from the at least one preferred pathway.

12. The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one preferred pathway is bidirectional, and wherein the at least one preferred pathway being bidirectional indicates that the influence function is not affected by relative orientation of movement of the autonomous mobile robot with respect to the at least one preferred pathway.

13. The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one preferred pathway is unidirectional, and wherein the at least one preferred pathway being unidirectional indicates that the influence function is affected by relative orientation of movement of the autonomous mobile robot with respect to the at least one preferred pathway, and orientation of the autonomous mobile robot.

14. The method of claim 5 , wherein causing the autonomous mobile robot to move from the start point to the end point along the planned path comprises:

causing the autonomous mobile robot to move from the start point to the end point in one direction along the planned path.

15. The method of claim 5 , wherein causing the autonomous mobile robot to move from the start point to the end point along the planned path comprises:

causing the autonomous mobile robot to move from the start point to the end point in a first direction along the planned path; and

causing the autonomous mobile robot to move from the start point to the end point in a second direction along the planned path.

16. The method of claim 5 , wherein obtaining at least one preferred pathway for the autonomous mobile robot comprises:

obtaining a series of connected segments on a visual representation of an environment, the series of connected segments being input by the user via the web user interface.

17. The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one preferred pathway includes one or more of: (i) a concatenation of the series of the connected segments, or (ii) a geometric area in which the autonomous mobile robot can move.

18. A system for implementing a planned track from a start point to an end point for an autonomous mobile robot, the system comprising:

a user interface that enables a user to define a preferred pathway for a warehouse;

a server communicably coupled to the user interface, the server configured to execute computer-executable instructions to:

obtain the preferred pathway from the web user interface; and

generate an influence function for the preferred pathway, wherein the influence function represents an amount of bias to the preferred pathway, and wherein the amount of bias is based at least in part on a current distance between the autonomous mobile robot and the preferred pathway; and

an autonomous mobile robot communicably coupled to the server, the autonomous mobile robot configured to:

receive the influence function from the server;

generate the planned track based at least in part on the influence function; and

move from the start point to the end point within the warehouse on the planned track.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the autonomous mobile robot is configured to generate the planned track based at least in part on the influence function by:

generating a derived cost function based at least in part on the influence function; and

generating an optimal planned track using the derived cost function.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the autonomous mobile robot is configured to generate the derived cost function based at least in part on the influence function by:

generating a function to reduce the cost of travel as the distance of the autonomous mobile robot from the at least one preferred pathway decreases.