Dynamic Control of Operational Data Handling Settings in Mobile Robots

1 . A method, comprising:

maintaining data handling settings at a mobile robot;

generating operational data at the mobile robot, the operational data defining a current state of the mobile robot;

storing the operational data in a memory of the mobile robot;

selecting, based on the data handling settings, a portion of the operational data;

transmitting the selected portion of the operational data;

in response to a determination that the operational data meets a condition, obtaining updated data handling settings; and

selecting a subsequent portion of the operational data for transmission according to the updated data handling settings.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the selected portion to a server or another mobile robot.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational data includes at least one of sensor data, navigational events, or robot status data.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the data handling settings include a priority level for each of a plurality of types of the operational data.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the data handling settings further include a retention time period for each of the types; and

wherein storing the operational data includes discarding a portion of the operational data having an age greater than the retention period.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the updated data handling settings include an extended retention period.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, at the mobile robot, that the operational data meets the condition; and

retrieving the updated data handling settings from a memory of the mobile robot.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising: transmitting a message to a server including the updated data handling settings.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from a server, the updated data handling settings in response to the determination, at the server, that the operational data meets a condition.

10 . A computing device, comprising:

a memory storing data handling settings; and

a processor configured to:

generate operational data defining a current state of a mobile robot;

store the operational data in the memory;

select, based on the data handling settings, a portion of the operational data;

transmit the selected portion of the operational data;

in response to a determination that the operational data meets a condition, obtain updated data handling settings; and

select a subsequent portion of the operational data for transmission according to the updated data handling settings.

11 . The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the selected portion to a server or another mobile robot.

12 . The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the operational data includes at least one of sensor data, navigational events, or robot status data.

13 . The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the data handling settings include a priority level for each of a plurality of types of the operational data.

14 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the data handling settings further include a retention time period for each of the types; and

wherein the processor is configured to store the operational data by discarding a portion of the operational data having an age greater than the retention period.

15 . The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the updated data handling settings include an extended retention period.

16 . The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine that the operational data meets the condition; and

retrieve the updated data handling settings from the memory.

17 . The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

transmit a message to a server including the updated data handling settings.

18 . The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive, from a server, the updated data handling settings in response to the determination, at the server, that the operational data meets a condition.