Quadrant configuration of robotic vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9494940-B1
Application number	US-201514932958-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 4, 2015
Priority date	Nov 4, 2015
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods to implement sectional design (e.g., in quadrants) of an autonomous vehicle may include modular construction techniques to assemble an autonomous vehicle from multiple structural sections. The multiple structural sections may be configured to implement radial and bilateral symmetry. A structural section based configuration may include a power supply configuration (e.g., using rechargeable batteries) including a double-backed power supply system. The power supply system may include a kill switch disposed on a power supply (e.g., at an end of a rechargeable battery). The kill switch may be configured to disable the power supply system in the event of an emergency or after a collision, for example. The radial and bilateral symmetry may provide for bi-directional driving operations of the autonomous vehicle as the vehicle may not have a designated front end or a back end.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a structural section including a propulsion unit, a steering unit and a sensor unit;
an autonomous vehicle including a plurality of the structural sections mechanically coupled to each other; and
an autonomous vehicle controller in electrical communication with the propulsion unit, the steering unit, and the sensor unit in each structural section.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of the structural sections are symmetrically disposed relative to each other.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of the structural sections include structural sections that are mirror images of each other.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein sensor units in the plurality of the structural sections are symmetrically disposed relative to each other.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein sensor units in the plurality of the structural sections have overlapping regions of sensor coverage.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each structural section includes a brake unit in electrical communication with the autonomous vehicle controller.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each structural section includes a housing being configured to receive a power unit.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each structural section includes a housing being configured to receive a portion of a power unit.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each structural section constitutes a quadrant of the autonomous vehicle.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the senor unit includes a plurality of different sensor types and at least one of the plurality of different sensor types includes multiple sensors that are identical sensor types.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the identical sensor types comprises multiple light detection and ranging sensors.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the identical sensor types comprises multiple image capture sensors.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the identical sensor types comprises multiple radio detection and ranging sensors.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each structural section includes a portion of an exterior safety system of the autonomous vehicle.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each structural section includes a portion of an interior safety system of the autonomous vehicle.

16. An apparatus, comprising:
an autonomous vehicle including a plurality of quad structures positioned in a quadrant configuration, each quad structure being coupled to at least two other quad structures, each quad structure including a sensor unit, a propulsion unit and a steering unit; and
an autonomous vehicle controller disposed in one or more of the quad structures and in electrical communication with the sensor unit, the propulsion unit and the sensor unit in each quad structure.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of quad sections are symmetrically disposed relative to each other.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of quad sections include quad sections that are mirror images of each other.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein sensor units in the plurality of quad sections are symmetrically disposed relative to each other.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 and further comprising:
a brake unit included in each quad section, each brake unit in electrical communication with the autonomous vehicle controller.

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Kentley Timothy David

Classifications

• B60L50/66

  Arrangements of batteries · CPC title

• B60L3/04

  Cutting off the power supply under fault conditions (protective devices and circuit arrangements in general H01H; H02H) · CPC title

• B60L2200/40

  Working vehicles · CPC title

• Y02P90/60

  Electric or hybrid propulsion means for production processes · CPC title

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title