Systems and methods for determining a potential failure or other status of a robotic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10134014-B2
Application number	US-201715667005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2017
Priority date	Feb 7, 2012
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Methods and systems for proactively preventing hazardous or other situations in a robot-cloud interaction are provided. An example method includes receiving information associated with task logs for a plurality of robotic devices. The task logs may include information associated with tasks performed by the plurality of robotic devices. The method may also include a computing system determining information associated with hazardous situations based on the information associated with the task logs. For example, the hazardous situations may comprise situations associated with failures of one or more components of the plurality of robotic devices. According to the method, information associated with a contextual situation of a first robotic device may be determined, and when the information associated with the contextual situation is consistent with information associated with the one or more hazardous situations, an alert indicating a potential failure of the first robotic device may be provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving task logs for a plurality of robotic devices, wherein the task logs comprise information indicative of tasks performed by the plurality of robotic devices;
determining, using a computing system and based on the task logs, situations involving unexpected operation of a component of the plurality of robotic devices;
determining a contextual situation of a particular robotic device; and
upon determining that the contextual situation is consistent with one of the situations involving unexpected operation, causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual situation of the particular robotic device comprises a task assigned to the particular robotic device, and wherein causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action comprises causing the particular robotic device to reduce a speed at which the particular robotic device performs the task.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual situation of the particular robotic device comprises a task assigned to the particular robotic device, and wherein causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action comprises causing the particular robotic device to avoid performing the task.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action comprises causing the particular robotic device to undergo preventive maintenance.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the situations comprises determining environments where unexpected operation occurred, and wherein determining that the contextual situation is consistent with the situation comprises determining that the particular robotic device is in one of the environments.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the situations comprises determining respective health levels of the robotic devices experiencing the unexpected operation, and wherein detecting that the contextual situation of the particular robotic device is consistent with the situation comprises determining that a health level of the particular robotic device is consistent with the respective health levels of the robotic devices experiencing the unexpected operation.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the situations comprises determining situations involving failure of the component of the plurality of robotic devices.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the situations involving failure of the component of the plurality of robotic devices comprises determining tasks attempted by respective robotic devices when failure of the component of the plurality of robotic devices occurred.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining that the contextual situation of the particular robotic device is consistent with the situation comprises determining that a task assigned to the particular robotic device is consistent with the tasks attempted by the respective robotic devices.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the situations involving failure of the component of the plurality of robotic devices comprises determining a common product utilized by respective robotic devices when failure of the component of the plurality of robotic devices occurred.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information indicative of tasks performed by the plurality of robotic devices comprises indications of whether individual tasks were completed by respective robotic devices with an amount of error that satisfies a particular amount of tolerance, and wherein the situations involving unexpected operation of the component of the plurality or robotic devices comprise situations in which individual tasks were completed by respective robotic devices with an amount of error that does not satisfy the particular amount of tolerance.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the component of the plurality of robotic devices comprises a component selected from the group consisting of: a sensor, an actuator, a motor, and a battery.

13. A system comprising:
a plurality of robotic devices configured to transmit, via a network, task logs comprising information indicative of tasks performed by the plurality of robotic devices; and
a computing component, comprising a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the computing component is capable of communicating with the plurality of robotic devices over the network, the computing component configured to perform functions comprising:
receiving task logs from the plurality of robotic devices,
determining, based on the task logs, situations involving unexpected operation of a component of the plurality of robotic devices,
determining a contextual situation of a particular robotic device, and
upon determining that the contextual situation is consistent with one of the situations involving unexpected operation, causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the contextual situation of the particular robotic device comprises a task assigned to the particular robotic device, and wherein causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action comprises causing the particular robotic device to reduce a speed at which the particular robotic device performs the task.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the contextual situation of the particular robotic device comprises a task assigned to the particular robotic device, and wherein causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action comprises causing the particular robotic device to avoid performing the task.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action comprises causing the particular robotic device to undergo preventive maintenance.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein determining the situations comprises determining environments where unexpected operation occurred, and wherein determining that the contextual situation is consistent with the situation comprises determining that the particular robotic device is in one of the environments.

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein determining the situations comprises determining respective health levels of the robotic devices experiencing the unexpected operation, and wherein detecting that the contextual situation of the particular robotic device is consistent with the situation comprises determining that a health level of the particular robotic device is consistent with the respective health levels of the robotic devices experiencing the unexpected operation.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:
receiving task logs for a plurality of robotic devices, wherein the task logs comprise information indicative of tasks performed by the plurality of robotic devices;
determining, based on the task logs, situations involving unexpected operation of a component of the plurality of robotic devices;
determining a contextual situation of a particular robotic device; and
upon determining that the contextual situation is consistent with one of the situations involving unexpected operation, causing the particular robotic device to perform a preventive action.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the contextual situation of the particular robotic device comprises a task assigned to the particular robotic device, and w

Assignees

• X Dev Llc

Inventors

• Kuffner Jr James J
• Hickman Ryan

Classifications

• G06Q10/20 Primary

  Administration of product repair or maintenance · CPC title

• Y10S901/49

  Protective device · CPC title

• G08B21/18

  Status alarms (G08B21/02 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B25J9/0084

  comprising a plurality of manipulators · CPC title

• B25J9/1674

  characterised by safety, monitoring, diagnostic · CPC title