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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10552803-B2
Application number	US-201816162130-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2018
Priority date	Feb 7, 2012
Publication date	Feb 4, 2020
Grant date	Feb 4, 2020

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 failure of a component of the plurality of robotic devices;
determining, based on the situations, an updated operational range for the component of the plurality of robotic devices; and
updating an operational range of the component of the plurality of robotic devices to be the updated operational range.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the operational range to be the updated operational range increases the operational range.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the operational range to be the updated operational range decreases the operational range.

4. The method of claim 1 :
wherein determining the situations comprises determining operational values of the component of the plurality of robotic devices when the situations occurred, and
wherein determining the updated operational range for the component of the plurality of robotic devices comprises determining a reduced operational range for the component of the plurality of robotic devices that excludes one or more of the operational values.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational range of the component of the plurality of robotic devices comprises an operational life of the component of the plurality of robotic devices.

6. The method of claim 1 :
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, and
wherein determining the updated operational range comprises determining an updated operational range that decreases a likelihood of future failures of the component of the plurality of robotic devices.

7. The method of claim 1 , 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.

8. 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.

9. 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 failure of a component of the plurality of robotic devices,
determining, based on the situations, an updated operational range for the component of the plurality of robotic devices, and
updating the operational range of the component of the plurality of robotic devices to be the updated operational range.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein updating the operational range to be the updated operational range increases the operational range.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein updating the operational range to be the updated operational range decreases the operational range.

12. The system of claim 9 :
wherein determining the situations comprises determining operational values of the component of the plurality of robotic devices when the situations occurred, and
wherein determining the updated operational range for the component of the plurality of robotic devices comprises determining a reduced operational range for the component of the plurality of robotic devices that excludes one or more of the operational values.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operational range of the component of the plurality of robotic devices comprises an operational life of the component of the plurality of robotic devices.

14. The system of claim 9 :
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, and
wherein determining the updated operational range comprises determining an updated operational range that decreases a likelihood of future failures of the component of the plurality of robotic devices.

15. The system of claim 9 , 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.

16. The system of claim 9 , 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.

17. 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, based on the situations, an updated operational range for the component of the plurality of robotic devices that is different from a manufacturer-specified operational range of the component; and
updating an operational range of the component of the plurality of robotic devices to be the updated operational range.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein updating the operational range to be the updated operational range increases the operational range.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein updating the operational range to be the updated operational range decreases the operational range.

20. The method of claim 17 , 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.

Assignees

• X Dev Llc

Inventors

• Kuffner Jr James J
• Hickman Ryan

Classifications

• B25J9/1674

  characterised by safety, monitoring, diagnostic · CPC title

• Y10S901/49

  Protective device · CPC title

• G06Q10/20 Primary

  Administration of product repair or maintenance · CPC title

• G08B21/18

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

• B25J9/0084

  comprising a plurality of manipulators · CPC title