Secondary robot commands in robot swarms

Number: 11032166
Published: 2021-06-08
Filed: 2018-07-27
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: Nocon; Nathan D., Goslin; Michael P., Rosenthal; Janice K., Drake; Corey D.
CPC: H04L43/028; B25J5/007; B25J13/006; B25J9/0084
Verdict: High Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Robot-swarm coordination via secondary robot commands (granted).

Abstract

Systems, methods and articles of manufacture that handle secondary robot commands in robot swarms may operate by receiving, at a receiving device in a swarm of devices, a packet included in a signal broadcast within an environment from a transmitting device in the swarm of devices; parsing the packet for a command associated with a primary effect and a secondary effect; in response to determining that the receiving device is paired with the transmitting device, implementing, by the receiving device, the primary effect; and in response to determining that the receiving device is not paired with the transmitting device, implementing, by the receiving device, the secondary effect.

Background

BACKGROUND (1) When several remote controlled devices are present within an environment, those devices may belong to an ad hoc swarm. Each device may be associated with a user, who remotely controls that device and can selectively add or remove the device from the swarm. For example, if users Alex, Blake, and Charlie are associated with a respective first, second, and third devices, when the three users issue commands to respective devices within a given area, a swarm consists of three devices. If a user removes a device from the swarm (e.g., Charlie goes home and takes the third device out of the interaction area) or a new user adds a new device to the swarm (e.g., Dakota enters the area with a fourth device), the swarm will grow or shrink in numbers accordingly. Each device in the swarm receives commands from the associated user, and may ignore commands from the other users. For example, a first device may be paired with a remote controller (in Alex's possession) to allow Alex to control that device. The pairing of the controllers with the devices preserves the ability of the swarm to grow or shrink as more devices come into range of one another, but may affect the interaction possibilities between the devices. (2) For the users of remote controlled devices in an ad hoc swarm to have those devices interact, the users may have the devices physically interact, or rely on imagination to substitute for actual interaction. For example, Alex may control the first device to bump i

Claims

1. A method, comprising: receiving, at a plurality of devices in a swarm of devices, wherein the swarm of devices is an ad hoc swarm configured to communicate via a shared protocol, a packet included in a signal broadcast within an environment from a transmitting device in the swarm of devices; wherein each receiving device of the swarm of devices: parses the packet for a command associated with a primary effect and a secondary effect; in response to determining that the receiving device is paired with the transmitting device, implements, by the receiving device, the primary effect; and in response to determining that the receiving device is not paired with the transmitting device, implements, by the receiving device, the secondary effect. || 10. A computer program product for handling secondary robot commands in robot swarms, the computer program product comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code that when executed by a processor, enable the processor to: receive a packet at a receiving device; identifying, based on the packet, whether the receiving device is one of a primary recipient for the packet in an ad hoc swarm of devices communicating via a shared protocol or a secondary recipient for the packet in the ad hoc swarm; and implementing one of a primary effect or a secondary effect on the receiving device respectively based on whether the receiving device is identified as the primary recipient or the secondary recipient. || 15. A system, comprising: a radio; a processor; a memory, including instructions that when executed by the processor, enable the system to: receive, via the radio, a packet transmitted according to a protocol used by an ad hoc swarm of devices including the system, wherein the packet includes a command with a primary effect and a secondary effect; identify a transmitting device for the packet; determine a relationship between the transmitting device and the system indicating whether the transmitting device is paired with the system or is paired with a different device in the ad hoc swarm of devices; perform one of the primary effect or the secondary effect of the command included in the packet based on the relationship, wherein the system performs the primary command included in the packet in response to determining that the transmitting device is paired with the system and performs the secondary effect of the command included in the packet in response to determining that the transmitting device is not paired with the system.