Checking volume in an excavation tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10982408-B2
Application number	US-202017080753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 26, 2020
Priority date	Jan 23, 2017
Publication date	Apr 20, 2021
Grant date	Apr 20, 2021

Abstract

This description provides an autonomous or semi-autonomous excavation vehicle that is capable of navigating through a dig site and carrying out an excavation routine using a system of sensors physically mounted to the excavation vehicle. The sensors collects any one or more of spatial, imaging, measurement, and location data representing the status of the excavation vehicle and its surrounding environment. Based on the collected data, the excavation vehicle executes instructions to carry out an excavation routine. The excavation vehicle is also able to carry out numerous other tasks, such as checking the volume of excavated earth in an excavation tool, and helping prepare a digital terrain model of the site as part of a process for creating the excavation routine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for analyzing an amount of earth in a tool, the method comprising:
measuring, by a sensor mounted to an earth moving vehicle (EMV), a depth of a tool of the EMV beneath a ground surface and a distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface;
executing, with a computer of the EMV, a set of instructions configured to cause the EMV to:
determine a volume of earth within the tool based on the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface and the distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface; and
adjust a position and an orientation of the tool relative to the ground surface based on the volume of earth within the tool.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein instructions for determining the volume of earth within the tool based on the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface and a distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface cause the EMV to:
access a mathematical function trained to determine the volume of earth within the tool; and
apply the mathematical function to determine the volume of earth within the tool, wherein the mathematical function integrates the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface over the distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface to determine the volume of earth within the tool.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein instructions for determining the volume of earth within the tool based on the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface and a distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface cause the EMV to:
access a predictive model trained to predict the volume of earth within the tool based on a training dataset of labeled volumes of earth in the tool and sensor data describing positions and depths of the tool that contributed to each labeled volume of earth; and
input the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface and the distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface into the predictive model to determine the volume of earth within the tool.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the predictive model is further trained to predict the volume of earth within the tool based on one or more of:
a type of the tool;
a width of the tool; and
a type of the EMV.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of instructions further cause the EMV to:
determine an available volume in the tool when empty based on geometric dimensions of the tool; and
determine the volume of earth within the tool based on a comparison of the determined available volume in the tool when empty, the distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface, and an orientation of the tool beneath the ground surface.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein instructions further cause the EMV to:
determine a force of earth acting on the tool as the tool moves over the distance at the depth beneath the ground surface;
determine the orientation of the tool beneath the ground surface based on the force of earth acting on the tool; and
determine the volume of earth within the tool based on the determined orientation of the tool beneath the ground surface and an amount of time that the tool has been fixed at the determined orientation.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein instructions further cause the EMV to:
determine, by a sensor mounted to the tool, the orientation of the tool relative to a direction of gravity and an amount of time that the tool has been fixed at the orientation; and
determine a volume of earth within the tool based on the determined orientation of the tool relative to the ground surface and the amount of time that the tool has been fixed at the determined orientation.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for analyzing an amount of earth in a tool encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
measure, by a sensor mounted to an earth moving vehicle (EMV), a depth of a tool of the EMV beneath a ground surface and a distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface;
determine a volume of earth within the tool based on the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface and the distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface; and
adjust a position and an orientation of the tool relative to the ground surface based on the volume of earth within the tool.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein instructions for determining the volume of earth within the tool based on the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface and a distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface cause the processor to:
access a mathematical function trained to determine the volume of earth within the tool; and
apply the mathematical function to determine the volume of earth within the tool, wherein the mathematical function integrates the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface over the distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface to determine the volume of earth within the tool.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein instructions for determining the volume of earth within the tool based on the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface and a distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface cause the processor to:
access a predictive model trained to predict the volume of earth within the tool based on a training dataset of labeled volumes of earth in the tool and sensor data describing positions and depths of the tool that contributed to each labeled volume of earth; and
input the depth of the tool beneath the ground surface and the distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface into the predictive model to determine the volume of earth within the tool.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that cause the processor to:
determine an available volume in the tool when empty based on geometric dimensions of the tool; and
determine the volume of earth within the tool based on a comparison of the determined available volume in the tool when empty, the distance that the tool was moved beneath the ground surface, and an orientation of the tool beneath the ground surface.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions that cause the processor to:
determine a force of earth acting on the tool as the tool moves over the distance at the depth beneath the ground surface;
determine the orientation of the tool beneath the ground surface based on the force of earth acting on the tool; and
determine the volume of earth within the tool based on the determined orientation of the tool beneath the ground surface and an amount of time that the tool has been fixed at the determined orientation.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions that cause the processor to:
determine, by a sensor mounted to the tool, the orientation of the tool relative to a direction of gravity and an amount of time that the tool has been fixed at the orientation; and
determine a volume of earth within the tool based on the determined orientation of the tool relative to the ground surface and the amount of time that the tool has been fixed at the determined orientation.

14. A method for analyzing an amount of earth in a tool, the method comprising:
accessing data recorded by a sensor mounted to an earth moving vehicle (EMV) representing a current state of a location, wherein the current state resulted from moving a volume of earth from the location using a tool of the EMV;
executing, with a computer of the EMV, a set

Assignees

• Built Robotics Inc

Inventors

• Ready-Campbell Noah Austen
• Liang Andrew Xiao
• Chou Linus Page
• Walker Jr Edward Stephen
• Wawrzonek Christian John
• Ready-Campbell Cyrus Mcmann

Classifications

• G06V20/56

  exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle · CPC title

• G06T2207/30248

  Vehicle exterior or interior · CPC title

• G06T17/05

  Geographic models · CPC title

• G06T7/74

  involving reference images or patches · CPC title

• G01N33/24

  Earth materials (G01N33/42 takes precedence) · CPC title