InCycle Planner Checkout for Autonomous Vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021064049-A1
Application number	US-201916553573-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 28, 2019
Priority date	Aug 28, 2019
Publication date	Mar 4, 2021
Grant date	—

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

I/We claim:

1 . A system for clearing a machine for at least one of autonomous operation and semiautonomous 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, including the controller further being configured to:
operate the machine at the offline location at an offline operating speed;
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; and
if the offline operating characteristic is within the predetermined offline parameter threshold or the acceptable offline deviation therefrom, identify the offline operating speed as a checked out offline speed;

conduct an online planner checkout procedure, including the controller further being configured to:
operate the machine at the autonomous worksite at an online operating 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; and
if the online operating characteristic is not within the at least one predetermined online parameter threshold or an acceptable online deviation therefrom, operate the machine at the autonomous worksite at the checked out offline speed;
if the at least one online operating characteristic is within the predetermined online parameter threshold or the acceptable online deviation therefrom,
 identify the online operating speed as a checked out online speed;
 determine if the machine is operating at a maximum designated operating speed;
 if 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.

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;
if the online operating characteristic is within the predetermined online parameter threshold or the acceptable online deviation therefrom, and if 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 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 and the online operating speed are the same.

5 . The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one controller is further configured to determine if 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 if the unacceptable offline deviation is a result of bad calibration.

7 . The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one controller is configured to remove the machine from operation if the unacceptable offline deviation is not a 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 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 semiautonomous 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; and
if the at least one offline operating characteristic is within the predetermined offline parameter threshold or the acceptable offline deviation therefrom, identifying the offline operating speed as a checked out offline speed; and
conducting an online planner checkout procedure including:
operating the machine at the autonomous worksite at an online operating speed;
determining at least one online operating characteristic of the machine from the at least one sensor;
accessing at least one online operational parameter corresponding to the at least one online operating characteristic of the machine;
determining whether the at least one online operating characteristic is within a predetermined online parameter threshold or an acceptable online deviation therefrom; and
if the at least one online operating characteristic is not within the predetermined online parameter threshold or the acceptable online deviation therefrom, operating the machine at the autonomous worksite at the checked out offline speed;
if the at least one online operating characteristic is within the predetermined online parameter threshold or the acceptable online deviation therefrom,
identifying the online operating speed as a checked out online speed;
determining if the machine is operating at a maximum designated operating speed;
 if the machine is operating at the maximum designated operating speed, ending th

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• E02F9/268

  with failure correction follow-up actions · CPC title

• E02F9/2054 Primary

  Fleet management · CPC title

• E02F9/205

  Remotely operated machines, e.g. unmanned vehicles (E02F3/8866 takes precedence) · CPC title

• 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