Patent Forecast

1. A method of operation in a robot control system, the method comprising: (4) (5)

for a first robot that will operate in an environment, determining a plurality of planning graphs, each planning graph respectively comprising a plurality of nodes connected by a plurality of edges, each node which represents, implicitly or explicitly, variables that characterize a respective state of the first robot, and each edge which represents a transition between a respective pair of the states of the first robot, where the respective pair of states are represented by respective ones of a pair of nodes that are coupled by a respective edge in the respective planning graph;

for at least two or more of the edges of each of the planning graphs, generating a respective set of edge information that represents a volume swept by at least a portion of the first robot in transitioning between the states represented by the respective nodes that are coupled by the respective edge;

storing the plurality of planning graphs and the sets of edge information in at least one nontransitory processor-readable storage;

based on at least a portion of the first robot having a first set of physical dimensions at a first time, providing the sets of edge information for a first one of the planning graphs to at least one processor; and

based on at least a portion of the first robot having a second set of physical dimensions at a second time, at least one dimension in the second set of physical dimensions different than a corresponding one of the dimensions of the first set, providing the sets of edge information for a second one of the planning graphs to the at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first robot has at least a first appendage that is selectively operable for movement with respect to the environment in which the first robot operates, and the first robot has a first end effector attached to the first appendage, the first end effector selectively operable for movement between at least a first and a second end effector arrangements, and further comprising: (1) (2)

determining that the first end effector attached to the first appendage is in a first end effector arrangement, wherein the first set of physical dimensions represent a set of dimensions of the first end effector in the first end effector arrangement; and

wherein providing the sets of edge information for a first one of the planning graphs to at least one processor is in response to the determination that the first end effector attached to the first appendage is in the first end effector arrangement.

3. The method of claim 2, and further comprising: (0) (2)

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first robot has at least a first appendage that is selectively operable for movement with respect to the environment in which the first robot operates, and a first end effector is attached to the first appendage, the first end effector selectively operable for movement between at least an un-grasped arrangement and a grasped arrangement, at least one of a size or shape of a volume occupied by the first end effector in the grasped arrangement being different from at least one of a size or shape of a volume occupied by the first end effector in the un-grasped arrangement, and further comprising: (0) (4)

determining that the first end effector attached to the first appendage is in the un-grasped arrangement;

wherein providing the sets of edge information for a first one of the planning graphs to at least one processor is in response to the determination that the first end effector attached to the first appendage is in the un-grasped arrangement; and

determining that the first end effector attached to the first appendage is in the grasped arrangement;

wherein providing the sets of edge information for a second one of the planning graphs to at least one processor is in response to the determination that the first end effector attached to the first appendage is in grasped arrangement.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first robot has at least a first appendage that is selectively operable for movement with respect to the environment in which the first robot operates, and, further comprising: (1) (2)

determining that the first robot has a first end effector attached to the first appendage, wherein the first set of physical dimensions represent a set of dimensions of the first end effector attached to the first appendage; and

wherein providing the sets of edge information for a first one of the planning graphs to at least one processor is in response to the determination that the first robot has a first end effector attached to the first appendage.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: (0) (2)

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first robot is at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, at least one of a size or shape of a volume occupied by the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in a first physical state is different from at least one of a size or shape of a volume occupied by the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in the second physical state, and further comprising: (0) (4)

determining that the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is in the first physical state;

wherein providing the sets of edge information for a first one of the planning graphs to at least one processor is in response to the determination that the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is in the first physical state; and

determining that the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is in the second physical state;

wherein providing the sets of edge information for a second one of the planning graphs to at least one processor is in response to the determination that the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is in second physical state.

8.-17. (canceled) (0)

18. A method of operation in a robot control system, the method comprising: (5) (3)

for a first discretized representation of an environment in which at least a first robot will operate, the environment occupied by one or more obstacles, supplying at least a portion of the first discretized representation of the environment to at least one processor;

for each edge of a first planning graph of a plurality of planning graphs stored in memory relative to the at least one processor, wherein each planning graph of the plurality of planning graphs is associated with a different set of physical dimensions of the first robot, providing a respective set of edge information to the at least one processor, the respective set of edge information which represents a volume swept by at least a portion of the first robot in transitioning between a pair of states of the first robot, the pair of states of the first robot represented by respective ones of a pair of nodes of the first planning graph, the respective pair of nodes which are coupled by a respective edge of the first planning graph, the respective edge which represents a transition between the respective pair of states of the first robot; and

identifying any of the edges of the first planning graph that the corresponding transition would result in a collision between at least a portion of the robot and at least a portion of at least one of the one or more obstacles in the environment.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein providing a respective set of edge information to the at least one processor includes, for each edge, applying the edge information for the respective edge to each of a plurality of circuits of the at least one processor in parallel. (0)

23. The method of claim 18 wherein providing a respective set of edge information to the at least one processor t includes, for each edge, applying to circuits of the at least one processor a respective set of edge information that represents, in terms of rectangular prisms, a volume swept by at least a portion of the first robot in transitioning between the states represented by the respective nodes that are coupled by the respective edge, the units of volume which each cover two or more voxels. (0)

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising: (2) (3)

determining that the first robot will or has changed from a first arrangement to a second arrangement, the second arrangement different from the first arrangement;

for each edge of a second planning graph of the plurality of planning graphs, providing a respective set of edge information to the at least one processor, the respective set of edge information which represents a volume swept by at least a portion of the first robot in transitioning between a pair of states of the first robot, the pair of states of the first robot represented by respective ones of a pair of nodes of the second planning graph, the respective pair of nodes which are coupled by a respective edge of the second planning graph, the respective edge which represents a transition between the respective pair of states of the first robot, the second planning graph different from the first planning graph; and

identifying any of the edges of the second planning graph that the corresponding transition would result in a collision between at least a portion of the robot and at least a portion of at least one of the one or more obstacles in the environment.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the first robot includes a first appendage that is selectively operable for movement with respect to the environment in which the first robot operates, and determining that the first robot will or has changed from a first arrangement to a second arrangement includes determining that a second end effector is attached or being attached to the first appendage in place of a first end effector. (0)

29. The method of claim 25 wherein the first robot is at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, at least one of a size or shape of a volume occupied by the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in a first arrangement is different from at least one of a size or shape of a volume occupied by the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in the second arrangement, and wherein determining that the first robot will or has changed from a first arrangement to a second arrangement includes determining that the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is transitioning or has transitioned between in the first and the second arrangements of the at least one of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle. (0)

30. The method of claim 18 wherein the providing a respective set of edge information for each edge of the first planning graph to the at least one processor includes retrieving the respective set of edge information from a nontransitory storage during a run time period, the respective set of edge information which was stored to the nontransitory storage during a pre-run time period. (1) (0)

32. The method of claim 18, further comprising: (0) (2)

19. (canceled) (0)

21. (canceled) (0)

22. (canceled) (0)

24. (canceled) (0)

27. (canceled) (0)

28. (canceled) (0)

33.-92. (canceled) (0)

93. A method of operation in a robot control system that employs a plurality of planning graphs, each planning graph respectively comprising a plurality of nodes connected by a plurality of edges, each node which represents, implicitly or explicitly, variables that characterize a respective state of the first robot, and each edge which represents a transition between a respective pair of the states of the first robot, where the respective pair of states is represented by a respective ones of a pair of nodes that are coupled by a respective edge in the respective planning graph, the method comprising: (1) (2)

for a first planning graph of the plurality of planning graphs, for each of a plurality of edges of the first planning graph performing collision checking for collisions between a discretized representation of a swept volume associated with the edge and a discretized representation of any obstacles in an environment in which the robot will operate;

updating the first planning graph based on the collision checking;

performing an optimization of the updated first planning graph to identify one or more optimized results, if any, from the updated first planning graph;

determining whether the one or more optimized results, if any, from the updated first planning graph meets a satisfaction condition;

in response to determining that the optimized result does not meet the satisfaction condition: for each of a plurality of edges of the second planning graph performing collision checking for collisions between a discretized representation of a swept volume associated with the edge and a discretized representation of any obstacles in an environment in which the robot will operate,

updating the second planning graph based on the collision checking; and

performing an optimization of the updated second planning graph to identify one or more optimized results, if any, from the updated second planning graph.

94. The method of claim 93, further comprising: (2) (1)

determining whether the one or more optimized results, if any, from the updated second planning graph, if any, meets a satisfaction condition.

95. The method of claim 94 wherein, in response to determining that the one or more optimized results, if any, from the updated second planning graph meets the satisfaction condition: (0) (1)

96. The method of claim 94 wherein, in response to determining that the one or more optimized results, if any, from the updated second planning graph does not meet the satisfaction condition: (1) (3)

for each of a plurality of edges of a third planning graph performing collision checking for collisions between a discretized representation of a swept volume associated with the edge and a discretized representation of any obstacles in an environment in which the robot will operate,

updating the third planning graph based on the collision checking; and

performing an optimization of the updated third planning graph to identify one or more optimized results, if any, from the updated third planning graph.

97. The method of claim 96 wherein, in response to determining that the one or more optimized results, if any, from the updated third planning graph meets the satisfaction condition: (0) (1)

Application US20190240835

MOTION PLANNING OF A ROBOT STORING A DISCRETIZED ENVIRONMENT ON ONE OR MORE PROCESSORS AND IMPROVED OPERATION OF SAME

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