Methods for operating mechatronic transforming luminaire swarms

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10820395-B2
Application number	US-201715689454-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2017
Priority date	Aug 29, 2017
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

A method for operating a robotic agent swarm system. The method includes: sending, via a communication network, a reconfiguration instruction from an orchestration controller to a number of robotic luminaire agents, each of the robotic luminaire agents of the swarm system being held at least periodically against an architectural surface comprising a holonomic operational area by a suspension and having a light source configured to illuminate a region in a proximity of the architectural surface. The method also includes changing one or more operating conditions of one or more of the robotic luminaire agents in response to the reconfiguration instruction, including holonomically moving at least one of the robotic luminaire agents from a first position on the holonomic operational area to a second position on the holonomic operational area.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for operating a robotic agent swarm system, the method comprising:
identifying a reconfiguration trigger and generating a reconfiguration instruction based on the reconfiguration trigger;
sending, via a communication network, the reconfiguration instruction from an orchestration controller to a plurality of robotic luminaire agents, each of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents of the swarm system being held at least periodically against an architectural surface comprising a holonomic operational area by a suspension and having a light source configured to illuminate a region in a proximity of the architectural surface; and
changing one or more operating conditions of one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents in response to the reconfiguration instruction, including holonomically moving at least one of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents from a first position on the holonomic operational area to a second position on the holonomic operational area;
wherein:
the reconfiguration trigger comprises detecting a change in respective light intensity at a plurality of measurement locations in the region in the proximity of the architectural surface, and
the reconfiguration instruction comprises an instruction to change one or more of a respective light intensity output of the respective controllable light source of the one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents, and changing a physical position of the one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents, to equalize the respective light intensities at the plurality of measurement locations.

2. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 1 , wherein: in each robotic luminaire agent, the suspension comprises one or more first magnetic elements, and the architectural surface comprises one or more second magnetic elements.

3. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 1 , wherein sending, via the communication network, the reconfiguration instruction from an orchestration controller to the plurality of robotic luminaire agents comprises sending the reconfiguration instruction simultaneously to all of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents.

4. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 1 , wherein sending, via the communication network, the reconfiguration instruction from an orchestration controller to the plurality of robotic luminaire agents comprises sending the reconfiguration instruction to an initial set of one or more robotic luminaire agents, and sending the reconfiguration instructions from the initial set of one or more robotic luminaire agents to a subsequent set of one or more robotic luminaire agents.

5. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 1 , wherein the orchestration controller is separate from the plurality of robotic luminaire agents.

6. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents comprises the orchestration controller.

7. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 1 , wherein the reconfiguration trigger comprises identifying a specific time of day and the reconfiguration instruction comprises an instruction to change operating conditions of one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents.

8. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 1 , wherein the reconfiguration trigger comprises a reconfiguration request from a human user interface.

9. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 8 , wherein the reconfiguration request comprises a request to place a light at a user-defined location.

10. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 9 , wherein the reconfiguration instruction comprises an instruction to move one or more robotic luminaire agents to the user-defined location.

11. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 8 , wherein the reconfiguration request comprises a request to reconfigure the one or more robotic luminaire agents to a predetermined arrangement.

12. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 1 , further comprising generating the reconfiguration instruction.

13. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 12 , wherein:
generating the reconfiguration instruction comprises:
identifying a respective current positions of each of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents, and
identifying a respective destination position for one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents; and

the reconfiguration instruction comprises an instruction to the one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents to move to the respective destination position.

14. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 13 , further comprising:
identifying an observed change in the one or more operating conditions of the one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents;
comparing the observed change in the one or more operating conditions of the one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents to an expected change in the one or more operating conditions of the one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents;
generating a new reconfiguration instruction for at least one of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents.

15. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 12 , wherein:
generating the reconfiguration instruction comprises:
identifying a respective current positions of each of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents,
identifying a respective destination position for one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents, and
calculating a respective travel path from the respective current position to the respective destination position for each of the one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents; and

the reconfiguration instruction comprises an instruction to the one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents to proceed on the respective travel path.

16. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 12 , wherein:
generating the reconfiguration instruction comprises identifying a desired final configuration of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents; and
the reconfiguration instruction comprises an instruction to the plurality of robotic luminaire agents to reconfigure to the desired final configuration.

17. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 16 , wherein changing one or more operating conditions of one or more of the plurality of robotic luminaire agents in response to the reconfiguration instructions comprises:
selecting, by the plurality of robotic luminaire agents, a swarm leader;
selecting, by one or more of the robotic luminaire agents, one or more swarm followers;
operating the swarm leader to move to a final position in satisfaction of at least part of the desired final configuration; and
operating the swarm followers to follow the swarm leader to the final position.

18. The method for operating a robotic agent swarm system according to claim 16 , wherein changing one or more operating conditions of one or more of the plurality of agents in response to the reconfiguration instructions comprises:
selecting, by the plurality of robotic luminaire agents, a swarm coordinator;
identifying, by the plur

Assignees

• Abl Ip Holding Llc

Inventors

• Kastee Jenish S
• Baker Youssef F
• White Sean P
• Hixon Nathaniel W
• Megginson Daniel M
• Eegholm Niels G

Classifications

• G05D1/104

  involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying (traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00) · CPC title

• G05D1/0027

  involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling (fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00) · CPC title

• H05B47/19 Primary

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• G05D1/0297 Primary

  by controlling means in a control room · CPC title

• H05B47/115

  by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings · CPC title