Unmanned aerial vehicle inspection system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11794890-B2
Application number	US-202117524932-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2021
Priority date	Jun 30, 2016
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for an unmanned aerial system inspection system. One of the methods is performed by a UAV and includes obtaining, from a user device, flight operation information describing an inspection of a vertical structure to be performed, the flight operation information including locations of one or more safe locations for vertical inspection. A location of the UAV is determined to correspond to a first safe location for vertical inspection. A first inspection of the structure is performed is performed at the first safe location, the first inspection including activating cameras. A second safe location is traveled to, and a second inspection of the structure is performed. Information associated with the inspection is provided to the user device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining a portion of a vertical structure for inspection by an unmanned aerial vehicle; and
determining a flight plan including safe locations around the vertical structure, each of the safe locations associated with a respective column of waypoints,
wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle navigates according to the flight plan by navigating to a first safe location of the safe locations, navigating vertically along a first column associated with the first safe location, activating sensors to obtain respective sensor information at at least some of the waypoints associated with the first safe location, navigating to a second safe location of the safe locations, navigating vertically along a second column associated with the second safe location, and activating the sensors to obtain respective sensor information at at least some of the waypoints associated with the second safe location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle navigates to one or more subsequent safe locations at a first altitude after completing navigation of the second safe location.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle obtains sensor information associated with the portion of the vertical structure while navigating along a vertical direction at each subsequent safe location.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the portion of the vertical structure for inspection by the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises:
receiving a selection of a type of the vertical structure;
providing a representation of the vertical structure based on the type;
receiving input identifying one or more portions of the representation of the vertical structure; and
determining the portion of the vertical structure for inspection based on the input.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the input is received via a user interface that presents a top-down view of the representation of the vertical structure and that presents a representation of a safe location of the safe locations set at a horizontal position around the top-down view.

6. The method of claim 5 , comprising:
receiving inputs associated with moving the representation of the safe location via the user interface.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the inputs associated with moving the representation of the safe location comprise at least one of rotating the safe location a same angle about a centroid associated with the vertical structure, moving the safe location closer to the centroid, or moving the safe location farther from the centroid.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the representation of the vertical structure comprises a model of the vertical structure, wherein the model is rotatable about one or more axes.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving a request to change at least one of an altitude of a waypoint or a distance associated with at least one of the safe locations; and
updating the flight plan based on the request.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving a request to change a safe location of the safe locations; and
updating the flight plan to include an updated safe location based on the request.

11. A system comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
determine one or more portions of a vertical structure for inspection by an unmanned aerial vehicle; and
determine a flight plan including safe locations located at respective distances from the vertical structure, each of the safe locations associated with a respective column of waypoints,
wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle navigates according to the flight plan by navigating to a first safe location of the safe locations, navigating vertically along a first column associated with the first safe location, activating sensors to obtain respective sensor information at at least some of the waypoints associated with the first safe location, navigating to a second safe location of the safe locations, navigating vertically along a second column associated with the second safe location, and activating the sensors to obtain respective sensor information at at least some of the waypoints associated with the second safe location.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle navigates to a subsequent safe location of the safe locations at a first altitude after completing navigation of a previous safe location of the safe locations.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle obtains sensor information associated with the one or more portions of the vertical structure while navigating along a vertical direction at each of the safe locations.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein, to determine the one or more portions of the vertical structure for inspection by the unmanned aerial vehicle, the one or more processors are configured to execute the instructions to:
receive a selection of a type of the vertical structure;
provide a representation of the vertical structure based on the type;
receive input identifying one or more selections of the representation of the vertical structure; and
determine the one or more portions of the vertical structure for inspection based on the input.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the input is received via a user interface that presents a top-down view of the representation of the vertical structure and that presents a representation of a safe location of the safe locations set at a horizontal position around the top-down view.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the instructions to:
receive inputs associated with moving the representation of the safe location via the user interface.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the inputs associated with moving the representation of the safe location comprise at least one of rotating the safe location a same angle about a centroid associated with the vertical structure, moving the safe location closer to the centroid, or moving the safe location farther from the centroid.

18. A non-transitory computer storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining one or more portions of a vertical structure for inspection by an unmanned aerial vehicle; and
determining a flight plan including inspection columns located at a threshold distance from the vertical structure, each of the inspection columns is associated with respective waypoints arranged vertically, and
wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle navigates according to the flight plan by navigating to a location of a first inspection column of the inspection columns, descending vertically along the first inspection column, obtaining respective sensor information at at least some of the waypoints associated with the first inspection column, navigating horizontally to a second inspection column of the inspection columns, descending vertically along the second inspection column, and obtaining respective sensor information at at least some of the waypoints associated with the second inspection column.

19. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle navigates to a subsequent inspection column of the one or more inspection columns at a first altitude after completing navigation of a previous inspection column of the one or more inspection columns.

20. The non-transitory computer storag

Assignees

• Skydio Inc

Inventors

• Bauer Mark Patrick
• Michini Bernard J
• Bethke Brett Michael

Classifications

• G08G5/74

  for monitoring terrain · CPC title

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/55 Primary

  for a single aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/52

  for take-off · CPC title

• G08G5/32

  for flight plan preparation · CPC title