IP Library Granted Patent US 9,014,848
Granted Patent B2
US 9,014,848 · App. 13/032,406 · Granted Apr 21, 2015

Mobile robot system

Inventors: Timothy S. Farlow (Needham, MA); Michael Rosenstein (S. Hadley, MA); Michael Halloran (Waltham, MA); Chikyung Won (Tewksbury, MA); Steven V. Shamlian (Bedford, MA); Mark Chiappetta (Chelmsford, MA)
Assignee: iRobot Corporation
G05D1/0246B25J11/009G05D1/0011G05D1/0274G05D1/0227G05D1/024G05D1/0242G05D1/0255G05D1/027G05D1/0272G05D2201/0206G05D2201/0211Y10S901/01Y10S901/47
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,014,848
App. No.
13/032,406
Granted
Apr 21, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

A robot system includes a mobile robot having a controller executing a control system for controlling operation of the robot, a cloud computing service in communication with the controller of the robot, and a remote computing device in communication with the cloud computing service. The remote computing device communicates with the robot through the cloud computing service.

Claims (33)

1. A method of operating a mobile robot, the method comprising:

receiving, at a data processing device, a layout map corresponding to an environment of the robot;

moving the robot in the environment to one or more layout map locations on the layout map;

recording, in non-transitory memory in communication with the data processing device, one or more robot map locations on a robot map, the robot map corresponding to the environment and produced by the robot;

determining, using the data processing device, a distortion between the robot map and the layout map using the recorded robot map locations of the robot map and the corresponding layout map locations of the layout map; and

applying, using the data processing device, the determined distortion to a target layout map location to determine a corresponding target robot map location.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, at the data processing device, the layout map from a cloud computing service.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising producing the layout map on an application executing on a remote computing device and storing the layout map on a remote cloud storage device using the cloud computing service.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, using the data processing device, a scaling size, origin mapping, and rotation between the layout map and the robot map using existing layout map locations and recorded robot map locations; and

resolving, using the data processing device, a robot map location corresponding to the target layout map location.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising applying data processing device, an affine transformation to the determined scaling size, origin mapping, and rotation to resolve the target robot map location.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, using the data processing device, a triangulation between layout map locations that bound the target layout map location.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising determining, using the data processing device, a scale, rotation, translation, and skew between a triangle mapped in the layout map and a corresponding triangle mapped in the robot map and applying the determined scale, rotation, translation, and skew to the target layout map location to determine the corresponding robot map point.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, using the data processing device, distances between all layout map locations and the target layout map location;

determining, using the data processing device, a centroid of the layout map locations;

determining, using the data processing device, a centroid of all recorded robot map locations; and

for each layout map location, determining a rotation and a length scaling to transform a vector running from the layout map centroid to the target layout location into a vector running from the robot map centroid to the target robot map location.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising producing the robot map using a sensor system of the robot.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising

emitting light onto a scene of the environment;

receiving reflections of the emitted light off surfaces of the scene;

determining, using the data a distance of each reflecting surface; and

constructing, using the data processing device, a three-dimensional depth map of the scene.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising emitting a speckle pattern of light onto the scene and receiving reflections of the speckle pattern from the scene.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising storing, in the non-transitory memory, reference images of the speckle pattern as reflected off a reference object in the scene, the reference images captured at different distances from the reference object.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising capturing at least one target image of the speckle pattern as reflected off a target object in the scene and comparing the at least one target image with the reference images for determining a distance of the reflecting surfaces of the target object.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining a primary speckle pattern on the target object and computing at least one of a respective cross-correlation and a decorrelation between the primary speckle pattern and the speckle patterns of the reference images.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising maneuvering the robot with respect to the target object based on the determined distances of the reflecting surfaces of the target object.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining, using the data processing device, a time-of-flight between emitting the light and receiving the reflected light and determining, using the data processing device, a distance to the reflecting surfaces of the scene.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising emitting the light onto the scene in intermittent pulses.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising altering a frequency of the emitted light pulses.

Assignments (5)
NOTICE OF ASSIGNMENT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Recorded Nov 25, 2025
From: TCG SENIOR FUNDING L.L.C., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: SANTRUM HONG KONG CO., LIMITED, AS SUCCESSOR COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 073707/0516 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Aug 9, 2023
From: IROBOT CORPORATION
To: TCG SENIOR FUNDING L.L.C., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 064532/0856 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 31, 2023
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: IROBOT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 064430/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 3, 2022
From: IROBOT CORPORATION
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 061878/0097 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 4, 2011
From: FARLOW, TIMOTHY S.; ROSENSTEIN, MICHAEL; HALLORAN, MICHAEL; WON, CHIKYUNG; SHAMLIAN, STEVEN V.; CHIAPPETTA, MARK
To: IROBOT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 026699/0426 →
Continuity (7)
Provisional Application 61346612 · May 20, 2010
Provisional Application 61356910 · Jun 21, 2010
Provisional Application 61428717 · Dec 30, 2010
Provisional Application 61428734 · Dec 30, 2010
Provisional Application 61428759 · Dec 30, 2010
Provisional Application 61429863 · Jan 5, 2011
Related Publication 20110288684A1 · Nov 24, 2011