Method of generating robot path and computing device for performing the method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12569997-B2
Application number	US-202418639891-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2024
Priority date	Oct 31, 2023
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

A method of generating a robot path is provided. The method includes identifying a drawing pose set for a manipulator included in a robot in order to draw a two-dimensional (2D) image on a three-dimensional (3D) target surface, setting a profile curve by projecting surface points of the 3D target surface onto an xy-plane, determining coverage circles of the manipulator that are capable of covering all surface points of the profile curve, deriving bounding circles for a mobile platform of the robot mounting the manipulator, corresponding to each of the determined coverage circles, and generating a translation path of the robot for drawing the 2D image on the 3D target surface based on the derived bounding circles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of generating a robot path, the method comprising:
identifying a drawing pose set for a manipulator included in a robot in order to draw a two-dimensional (2D) image on a three-dimensional (3D) target surface; setting a profile curve by projecting surface points of the 3D target surface onto an xy-plane; determining coverage circles of the manipulator that are capable of covering all surface points of the profile curve; deriving bounding circles for a mobile platform of the robot mounting the manipulator, corresponding to each of the determined coverage circles; and generating a translation path of the robot for drawing the 2D image on the 3D target surface based on the derived bounding circles.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying of the drawing pose set comprises:
identifying 2D drawing data for the 2D image; converting the 3D target surface to a 2D parametric domain; mapping all drawing points included in the 2D drawing data to the 2D parametric domain; and determining the drawing post set of the manipulator by inverting the 2D parametric domain to which all of the drawing points are mapped to the 3D target surface.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the mapping of all of the drawing points to the 2D parametric domain comprises:
identifying, corresponding to a missing drawing point of the 2D drawing data, four nearest matching drawing points that form a quadrilateral in the 2D parametric domain, wherein the missing drawing point is a point that is not mapped to the 2D parametric domain; and determining the drawing post set for the manipulator of the robot by parameterizing the missing drawing point by applying bilinear interpolation to a quadrilateral formed by the identified four nearest matching drawing points.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the coverage circles of the manipulator comprises:
identifying a plurality of coverage circle candidates that is capable of covering all of the surface points of the profile curve; and selecting final coverage circles for generating the robot path from among the identified plurality of coverage circle candidates based on a number of surface points of the profile curve included in each of the identified plurality of coverage circle candidates.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the deriving of the bounding circles comprises:
determining a center of a bounding circle for the mobile platform to be in a direction perpendicular to a line connecting two endpoints among surface points of the profile curve included in each of the determined coverage circles.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein, in the mobile platform, a pose direction is determined based on the direction perpendicular to the line connecting the two endpoints.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the translation path of the robot comprises:
determining a line connecting centers of each of the derived bounding circles for the mobile platform to be the translation path of the robot.

8 . A method of generating a robot path, the method comprising:
identifying a drawing pose set for a manipulator included in a robot in order to draw a two-dimensional (2D) image on a three-dimensional (3D) target surface; setting a profile curve by projecting surface points of the 3D target surface onto an xy-plane; identifying a plurality of coverage circle candidates that is capable of covering all surface points of the profile curve; selecting, from among the identified plurality of coverage circle candidates, a first coverage circle candidate that comprises a greatest number of surface points of the profile curve; selecting a second coverage circle candidate that comprises a greatest number of surface points among surface points of the profile curve other than surface points included in the first coverage circle candidate; iterating the selecting of the first and second coverage circle candidates until coverage circle candidates capable of covering all of the surface points of the profile curve are selected; deriving bounding circles for a mobile platform of the robot mounting the manipulator, corresponding to each of final coverage circles selected through the iteration; and generating a translation path of the robot for drawing the 2D image on the 3D target surface based on the derived bounding circles.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the identifying of the drawing pose set comprises:
identifying 2D drawing data for the 2D image; converting the 3D target surface to a 2D parametric domain; mapping all drawing points included in the 2D drawing data to the 2D parametric domain; and determining the drawing post set of the manipulator by inverting the 2D parametric domain to which all of the drawing points are mapped to the 3D target surface.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the deriving of the bounding circles comprises:
determining a center of a bounding circle for the mobile platform to be in a direction perpendicular to a line connecting two endpoints among surface points of the profile curve included in each of the determined coverage circles.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein, in the mobile platform, a pose direction is determined based on the direction perpendicular to the line connecting the two endpoints.

12 . A computing device comprising:
at least one processor; and a memory configured to load or store a program executed by the processor, wherein the program comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
identify a drawing pose set for a manipulator included in a robot in order to draw a two-dimensional (2D) image on a three-dimensional (3D) target surface;
set a profile curve by projecting surface points of the 3D target surface onto an xy-plane;
determine coverage circles of the manipulator that are capable of covering all surface points of the profile curve;
derive bounding circles for a mobile platform of the robot mounting the manipulator, corresponding to each of the determined coverage circles; and
generate a translation path of the robot for drawing the 2D image on the 3D target surface based on the derived bounding circles.

13 . The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to:
identify 2D drawing data for the 2D image; convert the 3D target surface to a 2D parametric domain; map all drawing points included in the 2D drawing data to the 2D parametric domain; and determining the drawing post set of the manipulator by inverting the 2D parametric domain to which all of the drawing points are mapped to the 3D target surface.

14 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to:
identify, corresponding to a missing drawing point of the 2D drawing data, four nearest matching drawing points that form a quadrilateral in the 2D parametric domain, wherein the missing drawing point is a point that is not mapped to the 2D parametric domain; and determining the drawing post set for the manipulator of the robot by parameterizing the missing drawing point by applying bilinear interpolation to a quadrilateral formed by the identified four nearest matching drawing points.

15 . The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to:
identify a plurality of coverage circle candidates that is capable of covering all of the surface points of the profile curve; and select final coverage circles for generating the robot path among the identified plurality of coverage circle candidates based on a number of surface points of the profile cur

Assignees

• Ewha University—Industry Collaboration Found

Inventors

• Kim Young Jun
• Song Daeun

Classifications

• G06T7/73

  using feature-based methods · CPC title

• G06T7/60

  Analysis of geometric attributes · CPC title

• G06T3/06

  Topological mapping of higher dimensional structures onto lower dimensional surfaces · CPC title

• B25J11/0075

  Manipulators for painting or coating · CPC title

• B25J9/161

  Hardware, e.g. neural networks, fuzzy logic, interfaces, processor · CPC title