SECONDARY ROBOT COMMANDS IN ROBOT SWARMS

Number: 20200036609
Published: 2020-01-30
Filed: 2018-07-27
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: NOCON; Nathan D., GOSLIN; Michael P., ROSENTHAL; Janice K., DRAKE; Corey D.
CPC: B25J13/006; H04L43/028; B25J5/007; B25J9/0084
Verdict: High Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Robot-swarm coordination via secondary robot commands.

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

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.

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 bu

Claims

1. A method, comprising: 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. 10. A computer program product for handling secondary robot commands in robot swarms, the computer program product comprising: a 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; in response to determining that the receiving device is a primary recipient for the packet in a swarm of devices, implement a primary effect on the receiving device; and in response to determining that the receiving device is among at least one secondary recipient for the packet in the swarm of devices, implement a secondary effect on the receiving device. 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; identify a transmitting device for the packet; in response to determining that the transmitting device is paired with the system, perform a primary effect of a command included in the packet; and in response to determining that the transmitting device is not paired with the system, perform a secondary effect of the command included in the packet.