SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATING AND USING TRAFFIC ANALYSIS IN A SPACE WITH MOVING OBSTACLES

Number: 20200276710
Published: 2020-09-03
Filed: 2020-05-11
Assignee: DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.
Inventors: Hager, IV; Joseph George, Honeck; Michael R., Mika; Jeremy Andrew
CPC: G01C21/3833; B25J9/1664; B25J9/1676; G01C21/20; G01C21/3807; G05D1/0219; G06T17/05
Verdict: High Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Robot navigation traffic analysis among crowds/moving obstacles (pre-grant).

Abstract

A system for improving navigation of robots in a space with a plurality of pedestrians or other movable objects or obstacles. The system includes a traffic analysis assembly that has a traffic sensor(s) sensing movement of the obstacles in the space. The traffic analysis assembly further includes a processor running a flow module that processes (such as the Gunnar-Farneback optical flow algorithm) output from the traffic sensor to generate traffic analysis results, which include density values for the obstacles in the space and motion information for the obstacles in the space (e.g., speed and direction). The system includes a robot with a controller running a navigation module selecting a navigation route between a current location of the robot and a target location in the space using the traffic analysis result. The workspace is configured such that the obstacles such as pedestrians have unregulated flow patterns in the space.

Background

BACKGROUND1. Field of the Description

The present invention relates, in general, to methods and systems for controlling a robot (such as a service or entertainment robot) for safe and efficient navigation in spaces (or “workspaces”) with one to many people, either walking or operating bicycles, wheelchairs, mobility scooters, skates, Segway or similar vehicles, and the like (all may be referred to as “obstacles” or “moving objects” or the like), and more particularly, to a robot controller (or assembly for controlling a robot) that is adapted, when navigating a robot through a crowded workspace, to provide efficient control (e.g., the quickest path) in the context of pedestrian traffic in the workspace including choosing between one or more end points/choices (e.g., a targeted second location from a current or first location (or “origin”) of the robot) and/or one or more paths to a chosen end point (or “target” or “goal”).2. Relevant Background

Today, robots are widely used in a wide variety of environments including public environments where the robots may need to interact with or at least safely navigate in the presence of people. Human behavior is complex, which makes it difficult to accurately predict what any particular person will do in the future. This is a primary challenge or difficulty in planning robot interactions with people and for navigating a robot through a space (or workspace) that may include a few people or may even be very crowded with people.

Claims

1. A method for reporting remote traffic conditions to off-board operational assets in a facility using a mobile autonomous agent, comprising: navigating a mobile autonomous agent along a navigation route in a facility, wherein the navigation route is proximate to a number of moving or movable obstacles in the facility; at two or more locations along the navigation route, using a traffic sensor onboard the mobile autonomous agent to sense movement of the obstacles in the facility and, in response, generate sensor output; generating a traffic analysis from the sensor output, wherein the traffic analysis includes density values for the obstacles in the facility and motion information for the obstacles in the facility; communicating the traffic analysis from the two or more locations from the mobile autonomous agent to an off-board operational asset in the facility; and modifying at least one operation of the off-board operational asset based on the traffic analysis. 14. A system for communicating traffic analysis in a space with a plurality of obstacles, the space being configured such that the obstacles have unregulated flow patterns in at least one area of the space, comprising: a mobile traffic analysis unit including a digital camera capturing a sequence of video frames of the space from at least two locations, the sequence of video frames including the obstacles, wherein the mobile traffic analysis unit further includes a flow module processing the sequence of video frames to generate traffic analysis results including motion information for the obstacles in the space; a fixed-location operational asset communicating with the mobile traffic analysis unit to receive the traffic analysis results, wherein at least one operation of the fixed-location operational asset is modified based on the traffic analysis results. 18. A method for reporting remote traffic conditions to off-board operational assets in a facility, comprising: at two or more locations in the facility, using a traffic sensor to sense movement of obstacles in the facility and, in response, generate sensor output; generating a traffic analysis from the sensor output, wherein the traffic analysis includes density values for the obstacles in the facility and motion information for the obstacles in the facility; communicating the traffic analysis pertaining to the two or more locations to an operational asset in the facility; and modifying at least one operation of the operational asset based on the traffic analysis.

Claims truncated at the source; see the full document.