Vehicle based charging station robot arm control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018141450-A1
Application number	US-201715638238-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 29, 2017
Priority date	Jun 29, 2016
Publication date	May 24, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system that performs a method is disclosed. Whether a charging station is available to charge the vehicle is determined. In accordance with a determination that a charging station is available, one or more position parameters for a charging arm of the charging station are obtained using the one or more scanners. Based on the obtained one or more position parameters, one or more commands are generated to control the motion of the charging arm to couple the charging arm to the vehicle to charge the vehicle.

First claim

1 . A system for charging a vehicle, the system being disposed or included in the vehicle, comprising:
one or more processors; one or more scanners; and one or more memories, the one or more memories including instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
determining whether a charging station is available to charge the vehicle;
in accordance with a determination that a charging station is available, obtaining one or more position parameters, using the one or more scanners, for a charging arm of the charging station; and
generating one or more commands, based on the obtained one or more position parameters, to control the motion of the charging arm to couple the charging arm to the vehicle to charge the vehicle.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more scanners disposed in the vehicle include light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scanners.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the charging station is available to charge the vehicle comprises:
determining whether the vehicle is in motion; in accordance with a determination that the vehicle is not in motion, detecting the charging station; and upon detecting the charging station, determining whether the charging station satisfies one or more pre-configured conditions for charging.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein detecting the charging station comprises sensing the charging station using one or more sensors disposed in the vehicle.

5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein determining whether the charging station satisfies one or more pre-configured conditions for charging comprises determining at least one of:
whether a distance between the charging arm of the charging station and the vehicle satisfies a distance condition; whether an orientation of the charging station with respect to the vehicle satisfies an orientation condition; whether a capacity of the charging station satisfies a capacity condition; whether a type of the charging station correlates to a type of the vehicle; and whether charging the vehicle using the charging station is interfered with by an object.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprising, prior to obtaining the one or more position parameters for the charging arm of the charging station:
determining whether charging the vehicle is to be initiated based on at least one of a user input to charge the vehicle or context information; and in accordance with a determination that charging of the vehicle is to be initiated, obtaining the one or more position parameters.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises, prior to generating one or more commands to control the motion of the charging arm to couple the charging arm to the vehicle to charge the vehicle:
determining whether the charging arm of the charging station conforms to a pre-configured position; and in accordance with a determination that the charging arm of the charging station does not conform to the pre-configured position, generating one or more re-positioning commands to control the motion of the charging arm to conform to the pre-configured position.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises, obtaining one or more orientation parameters, using the one or more scanners disposed in the vehicle, for the charging arm of the charging station.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises, prior to generating one or more commands to control the motion of the charging arm to couple the charging arm to the vehicle to charge the vehicle:
determining whether the charging arm of the charging station conforms to a pre-configured orientation; and in accordance with a determination that the charging arm of the charging station does not conform to the pre-configured orientation, generating one or more re-orienting commands to control the motion of the charging arm to conform to the pre-configured orientation.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more position parameters for a charging arm of the charging station comprise a first coordinate, a second coordinate, and a third coordinate.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the charging arm includes a charging adaptor to couple the charging arm to the vehicle.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein generating one or more commands, based on the one or more position parameters, to control the motion of the charging arm to couple the charging arm to the vehicle to charge the vehicle comprises:
obtaining a pre-determined model of the charging station; correlating the one or more position parameters for the charging arm of the charging station with the pre-determined model of the charging station; in accordance with the correlation, estimating the motion of the charging arm of the charging station; and generating the one or more commands based on the estimation of the motion.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the pre-determined model is a 3D model.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein estimating the motion of the charging arm of the charging station is based on a local motion model fitting algorithm.

15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein generating the one or more commands is further based on one or more orientation parameters of the charging arm of the charging station.

16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting the one or more commands to the charging station, wherein the one or more commands control the motion of a charging adaptor of the charging arm to align with a charging port of the vehicle.

17 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining whether the charging station is to be decoupled from the vehicle; and in accordance with a determination that the charging station is to be decoupled from the vehicle:
generating a decoupling command to electrically decouple the charging arm of the charging station from the vehicle in accordance with the decoupling command.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the determination that the charging station is to be decoupled from the vehicle comprises at least one of:
a determination that charging of the vehicle is complete; a determination that the charging station is no longer available to charge the vehicle; and a determination that a user input is received to decouple the charging station from the vehicle.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions stored in one or more memories disposed in a vehicle, which when executed by one or more processors disposed in the vehicle, cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
determining whether a charging station is available to charge a vehicle; in accordance with a determination that a charging station is available, obtaining one or more position parameters, using one or more scanners disposed in the vehicle, for a charging arm of the charging station; and generating one or more commands, based on the obtained one or more position parameters, to control the motion of the charging arm to couple the charging arm to the vehicle to charge the vehicle.

20 . A vehicle comprising:
one or more scanners; one or more processors; and one or more memories, the one or more memories including instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising: determining whether a charging station is available to charge a vehicl

Assignees

• Faraday&Future Inc

Inventors

• Oh Sangmin
• Jian Yong-Dian
• Ni Kai

Classifications

• G01S17/06

  Systems determining position data of a target · CPC title

• B60L53/68

  Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control · CPC title

• B25J9/1694

  characterised by use of sensors other than normal servo-feedback from position, speed or acceleration sensors, perception control, multi-sensor controlled systems, sensor fusion · CPC title

• Y10S901/47

  Optical · CPC title

• B60L2250/16

  by display · CPC title