InCycle planner checkout for autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11567505-B2
Application number	US-201916553573-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2019
Priority date	Aug 28, 2019
Publication date	Jan 31, 2023
Grant date	Jan 31, 2023

Abstract

Process for clearing an autonomous machine including first evaluating operation at a high curvature offline location. Following acceptable operation, the machine is placed into service and evaluated at a worksite. Following acceptable worksite operation, online operating speed of the machine is increased incrementally, and performance reevaluated. Following acceptable performance characteristics, online operating speed of the machine continues to be increased and revaluated until the machine reaches maximum designated operating speed, or is evaluated as unacceptable, in which case the machine continues to operate at the last acceptable online operating speed and identifies the unacceptable performance characteristic for further evaluation.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system for clearing a machine for at least one of autonomous operation and semi autonomous operation at an autonomous worksite, comprising:
an offline location including a plurality of predetermined curves, the offline location not including the autonomous worksite;
at least one sensor configured to measure at least two operating characteristics of the machine, the at least two operating characteristics including at least an offline operating characteristic and an online operating characteristic; and
a control system including at least one controller, the at least one controller being configured to:
store a reference profile for the machine;
store operational parameters based upon the reference profile, the operational parameters including at least one predetermined offline parameter threshold and at least one predetermined online parameter threshold;
access the at least two operating characteristics of the machine from the at least one sensor;
conduct an offline planner checkout procedure at the offline location, including the controller further being configured to:
operate the machine at the offline location at a plurality of offline operating speeds;
determine whether the at least one offline operating characteristic is within the at least one predetermined offline parameter threshold or an acceptable offline deviation therefrom during operation of the machine at one of the offline operating speeds; and
when the offline operating characteristic is within the predetermined offline parameter threshold or the acceptable offline deviation therefrom, identify, the one offline operating speed as a checked out offline speed, the checked out offline speed being a maximum operating speed for the offline planner checkout procedure from among the plurality of offline operating speeds of the machine during the offline planner checkout procedure;

conduct an online planner checkout procedure at the autonomous worksite after identification of the checked out offline speed, including the controller further being configured to:
operate the machine at the autonomous worksite at an online operating speed, the online operating speed for the online planner checkout procedure being greater than the checked out offline speed;
determine whether the at least one online operating characteristic is within the at least one predetermined online parameter threshold or an acceptable online deviation therefrom during operation of the machine at the online operating speed; and
when the online operating characteristic is not within the at least one predetermined online parameter threshold or an acceptable online deviation therefrom during the operation of the machine at the online operating speed, operate the machine at the autonomous worksite at the checked out offline speed;
when the at least one online operating characteristic is within the predetermined online parameter threshold or the acceptable online deviation therefrom during the operation of the machine at the online operating speed,
identify the online operating speed as a checked out online speed;
determine whether the machine is operating at a maximum designated operating speed; and
when the machine is not operating at the maximum designated operating speed, increase the online operating speed of the machine by a preset interval and repeat the online planner checkout procedure, designating an increased online operating speed as the online operating speed,

wherein the at least one offline operating characteristic includes at least two offline operating characteristics, one of which being a braking ability of the machine, the checked out offline speed being associated with the offline planner checkout procedure checking the braking ability at the checked out offline speed.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:
in connection with the offline planner checkout procedure, the controller is further configured to:
determine the offline operating characteristic from the at least one sensor; and access the at least one predetermined offline parameter threshold corresponding to the offline operating characteristic; and
in connection with the online planner checkout procedure, the controller is further configured to:
determine the online operating characteristic from the at least one sensor;
access the at least one predetermined online parameter threshold corresponding to the online operating characteristic;
when the online operating characteristic is within the predetermined online parameter threshold or the acceptable online deviation therefrom during the operation of the machine at the online operating speed, and when the machine is operating at the maximum designated operating speed, end the online planner checkout procedure and continue to operate the machine at the autonomous worksite at the maximum designated operating speed.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of a machine pose sensor and an operating environment sensor.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the checked out offline speed is the same as an initial online operating speed for the machine for the online planner checkout procedure.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one controller is further configured to determine whether an unacceptable offline deviation greater from the predetermined offline parameter threshold is a result of bad calibration of the machine.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one controller is configured to either calibrate the machine when the unacceptable offline deviation is the result of bad calibration of the machine.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one controller is configured to remove the machine from operation when the unacceptable offline deviation is not the result of bad calibration.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one controller is configured to determine whether a plurality of online operating characteristics are within a plurality of predetermined online parameter thresholds or acceptable online deviations thereof during the operation of the machine at the online operating speed before increasing the online operating speed by the preset interval.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least two operating characteristics of the machine include machine ground speed and machine braking response.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least two operating characteristics of the machine include at least three operating characteristics, the at least three operating characteristics including machine ground speed, machine braking response, and machine tracking.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one controller is configured to store at least one of a current state of the offline planner checkout procedure and a current state of the online planner checkout procedure.

12. A method of clearing a machine for at least one of autonomous operation and semi autonomous operation at an autonomous worksite, the method comprising:
conducting an offline planner checkout procedure, including:
operating the machine at an offline location at an offline operating speed, the offline location including a plurality of predetermined curves, the offline location not including the autonomous worksite;
determining at least one offline operating characteristic of the machine from at least one sensor;
determining whether the at least one offline operating characteristic is within a predetermined offline parameter threshold or an acceptable offline deviation therefrom for the operation of the machine at the offline operating speed; and
responsive to the at least one offline operating characteristic being within the predetermined offli

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

• Chowdhury Sagar
• Johnson Matthew D
• Struble Joshua C
• Wallstedt Philip
• Everett Bryan J

Classifications

• E02F9/265

  with follow-up actions (e.g. control signals sent to actuate the work tool) · CPC title

• B60W50/0205

  Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models · CPC title

• G05D2201/0202

  Physics · mapped topic

• B60W50/04

  Monitoring the functioning of the control system · CPC title

• B60W2050/041

  Built in Test Equipment [BITE] · CPC title