Roof scan using unmanned aerial vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11952116-B2
Application number	US-202217890889-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2022
Priority date	Oct 28, 2019
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

Described herein are systems for roof scan using an unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, some methods include capturing, using an unmanned aerial vehicle, an overview image of a roof of a building from above the roof; presenting a suggested bounding polygon overlaid on the overview image to a user; determining a bounding polygon based on the suggested bounding polygon and user edits; based on the bounding polygon, determining a flight path including a sequence of poses of the unmanned aerial vehicle with respective fields of view at a fixed height that collectively cover the bounding polygon; fly the unmanned aerial vehicle to a sequence of scan poses with horizontal positions matching respective poses of the flight path and vertical positions determined to maintain a consistent distance above the roof; and scanning the roof from the sequence of scan poses to generate a three-dimensional map of the roof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
presenting, within a graphical user interface (GUI) output for display at a user device, a graphical representation of a suggested bounding polygon overlaid on an overview image of a roof to enable a movement of vertices of the suggested bounding polygon within the GUI;
determining a bounding polygon based on movements of one or more of the vertices of the suggested bounding polygon within the GUI; and
determining, based on the bounding polygon, a flight path including a sequence of poses representing positions and orientations for an unmanned aerial vehicle to assume as the unmanned aerial vehicle performs an inspection of the roof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequence of poses are at a fixed height relative to the bounding polygon.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overview image is produced based on output of an initial scan of the roof.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the initial scan of the roof is performed using one or more of an image sensor of the unmanned aerial vehicle or a distance sensor of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
updating, while the unmanned aerial vehicle navigates according to the flight path, the GUI to show a current position of the unmanned aerial vehicle overlaid on the overview image.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
generating a three-dimensional map of the roof based on output obtained during a scan of the roof according to the flight path.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the output used to generate the three-dimensional map includes one or more of image sensor data or distance sensor data.

8. An apparatus, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
determine a bounding polygon based on movements, within a graphical user interface, of one or more vertices of a graphical representation of a suggested bounding polygon overlaid on an overview image of a roof; and
determine, based on the bounding polygon, a flight path including a sequence of poses representing positions and orientations for an unmanned aerial vehicle to assume as the unmanned aerial vehicle performs an inspection of the roof.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the sequence of poses have different fields of view that collectively cover the bounding polygon.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the movements represent user edits encoded at a user device in communication with the unmanned aerial vehicle.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to:
adjust a pose of the sequence of poses to avoid an obstacle detected based on one or more images captured by the unmanned aerial vehicle.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the sequence of poses have horizontal positions matching respective poses of the flight path and vertical positions determined to maintain a consistent distance above the roof.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to:
generate a three-dimensional map of the roof based on an output of the inspection.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the overview image is captured from a pose above the roof.

15. A system, comprising:
a user device configured to output, for display, a graphical user interface (GUI) including a graphical representation of a suggested bounding polygon overlaid on an overview image of a roof to enable a movement of vertices of the suggested bounding polygon within the GUI; and
an unmanned aerial vehicle configured to navigate, for an inspection of the roof, a flight path including a sequence of poses determined based on a bounding polygon, wherein the bounding polygon is determined based on movements of one or more of the vertices of the suggested bounding polygon within the GUI at the user device, and wherein the sequence of poses represents positions and orientations for the unmanned aerial vehicle to assume as the unmanned aerial vehicle performs the inspection of the roof.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein one or more scan parameters are presented for selection at the user device, and wherein the flight path is determined using selected ones of the one or more scan parameters.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the one or more scan parameters correspond to one or more of a grid size, a height above a surface of the roof for the unmanned aerial vehicle to maintain while navigating according to the flight path, or a top flight speed for the unmanned aerial vehicle to use while navigating according to the flight path.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle is configured to:
store a scan state indicating a next pose of the flight path;
fly to a landing spot to land;
after landing, take off from the landing spot; and
after taking off, fly, based on the scan state, to assume the next pose and continue scanning the roof.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle is configured to:
detect, while navigating according to the flight path, an obstacle based on one or more images captured using the unmanned aerial vehicle; and
adjust a pose of the flight path to avoid the obstacle.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the GUI depicts a current position of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Assignees

• Skydio Inc

Inventors

• Henry Peter
• Zhu Jack
• Richman Brian
• Zheng Harrison
• Martirosyan Hayk
• Donahoe Matthew
• Bachrach Abraham Galton
• Bry Adam

Classifications

• B64C39/024 Primary

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title

• G05D1/223

  Command input arrangements on the remote controller, e.g. joysticks or touch screens · CPC title

• G05D1/224

  Output arrangements on the remote controller, e.g. displays, haptics or speakers · CPC title

• G05D1/606

  Compensating for or utilising external environmental conditions, e.g. wind or water currents (station keeping G05D1/611) · CPC title

• G08G5/80

  Anti-collision systems · CPC title