Granted Patent B2

US 12,564,964 · App. 17/451,169 · Granted Mar 3, 2026

Inventors: Jenny S. Li (Franklinton, NC); Nirmit V Desai (Yorktown Heights, NY); Dhiraj Joshi (Edison, NJ); Raghu Ramaswamy (Bangalore, IN); Satish Rajani (Dewas, IN)

Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation

B25J9/1697B25J13/006G05D1/0022G05D1/0221G05D1/0246

Abstract

Claims (47)

1 . A computer-implemented method for optimizing sensing capabilities of a roaming robotic device, comprising:

receiving data, at a control system having a computer, from a robotic device, the robotic device operating at a site using a policy received from the control system, the policy includes operating actions for the robotic device, the data being generated from sensors on the robotic device in response to a sensing task being performed by the robotic device;

analyzing the received data using the control system for determining when the received data meets a threshold for determining quality of the data, in response to the receiving of the data from the robotic device at the site;

the analysis including generating a model based on a sample set of data, the analysis also including vector representation of the received data as input data, and the analysis includes comparing the vector representation to the model;

determining when the received data does not meet the threshold for determining quality based on the analysis including the comparing of the vector representation of the input data to the model;

in response to the received data at the control system not meeting the threshold for determining quality, the robotic device communicating with an edge server, the edge server evaluating quality of the received data and determining that the quality of the received data does not meet the threshold, and the edge server and the robotic device collaborating in updating the policy to choose a next action, until the received data at the control system meets the threshold; and

communicating the next action from the edge server to the robotic device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the next action includes a navigation action including the robotic device moving to a next location in the site and initiating additional data collection by the robotic device for the sensing task.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the next action includes the robotic device adjusting a camera on the robotic device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the next action is selected from a group consisting of: moving to a next location; adjusting a camera on the robotic device; adjusting a sensor on the robotic device; and waiting for a period of time.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

creating an out of distribution detector (OOD) from the sample set of data to determine a distance between a distribution of data in the sample set of data, and the input data; and

using the distance in the determining when the received data does not meet the threshold for determining quality.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the robotic device is a roaming edge device (RED) located at an edge of communications for roaming edge devices at the site.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold for determining quality includes a measured level of electronic noise which is acceptable for quality and thereby when the received data exceeds the threshold, the received data is unacceptable in relation to quality.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

updating the model, using the computer; the updated model includes the following;

updating the received data;

updating the analyzing of the updated received data; and

communicating with the control system to collaborate in another updating of the policy for choosing a navigation action, in response to the updated received data not meeting the threshold for determining quality.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

iteratively generating the model to produce updated models.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the site where the robotic device is operating has low quality electronic wireless communication capabilities.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the robotic device communicates with the control system at least in part as a cloud server to collaborate in updating the policy to choose a navigation action, and the cloud server being in communication with the robot at a location.

12 . A system using a computer for optimizing sensing capabilities of a roaming robotic device, which comprises:

a computer system comprising; a computer processor, a computer-readable storage medium, and program instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium being executable by the processor, to cause the computer system to perform the following functions to;

receive data, at a control system having a computer, from a robotic device, the robotic device operating at a site using a policy received from the control system, the policy includes operating actions for the robotic device, the data being generated from sensors on the robotic device in response to a sensing task being performed by the robotic device;

analyze the received data using the control system for determining when the received data meets a threshold for determining quality of the data, in response to the receiving of the data from the robotic device at the site;

generate a model, as part of the analysis, based on a sample set of data, the analysis also including vector representation of the received data as input data, and the analysis includes comparing the vector representation to the model;

determine when the received data does not meet the threshold for determining quality based on the analysis including the comparing of the vector representation of the input data to the model;

in response to the received data at the control system not meeting the threshold for determining quality, the robotic device communicates with an edge server, the edge server evaluating quality of the received data and determining that the quality of the received data does not meet the threshold, and the edge server and the robotic device collaborate in updating the policy to choose a next action, until the received data at the control system meets the threshold; and

communicate the next action from the edge server to the robotic device.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the next action includes a navigation action including the robotic device moving to a next location in the site and initiating additional data collection by the robotic device for the sensing task.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the next action includes the robotic device adjusting a camera on the robotic device.

15 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the next action is selected from a group consisting of: moving to a next location; adjusting a camera on the robotic device; adjusting a sensor on the robotic device; and waiting for a period of time.

16 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising:

creating an out of distribution detector (OOD) from the sample set of data to determine a distance between a distribution of data in the sample set of data, and the input data; and

using the distance in the determining when the received data does not meet the threshold for determining quality.

17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the robotic device is a roaming edge device (RED) located at an edge of communications for roaming edge devices at the site.

18 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the threshold for determining quality includes a measured level of electronic noise which is acceptable for quality and thereby when the received data exceeds the threshold, the received data is unacceptable in relation to quality.

19 . A computer program product for optimizing sensing capabilities of a roaming robotic device, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform functions, by the computer, comprising the functions to:

receive data, at a control system having a computer, from a robotic device, the robotic device operating at a site using a policy received from the control system, the policy includes operating actions for the robotic device, the data being generated from sensors on the robotic device in response to a sensing task being performed by the robotic device;

analyze the received data using the control system for determining when the received data meets a threshold for determining quality of the data, in response to the receiving of the data from the robotic device at the site;

generate a model, as part of the analysis, based on a sample set of data, the analysis also including vector representation of the received data as input data, and the analysis includes comparing the vector representation of the input data to the model;

determine when the received data does not meet the threshold for determining quality based on the analysis including the comparing of the vector representation to the model;

in response to the received data at the control system not meeting the threshold for determining quality, the robotic device communicates with an edge server, the edge server evaluating quality of the received data and determining that the quality of the received data does not meet the threshold, and the edge server and the robotic device collaborate in updating the policy to choose a next action, until the received data at the control system meets the threshold; and

communicating the next action from the edge server to the robotic device.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (38)