Localization by learning of wave-signal distributions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9623557-B2
Application number	US-201615248352-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 26, 2016
Priority date	Nov 6, 2009
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A robot having a signal sensor configured to measure a signal, a motion sensor configured to measure a relative change in pose, a local correlation component configured to correlate the signal with the position and/or orientation of the robot in a local region including the robot's current position, and a localization component configured to apply a filter to estimate the position and optionally the orientation of the robot based at least on a location reported by the motion sensor, a signal detected by the signal sensor, and the signal predicted by the local correlation component. The local correlation component and/or the localization component may take into account rotational variability of the signal sensor and other parameters related to time and pose dependent variability in how the signal and motion sensor perform. Each estimated pose may be used to formulate new or updated navigational or operational instructions for the robot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous mobile robot comprising:
a signal sensor configured to detect a portion of a signal emitted into an environment of the robot and provide a value representing a property of the detected portion of the signal;
a movement system configured to move the robot along a floor surface of the environment;
a motion sensor configured to detect a motion of the robot; and
a controller configured to:
determine a predicted value of the property of the detected portion of the signal for a particular pose of the robot,
estimate a pose of the robot based at least in part on the provided value of the property, the detected motion of the robot, and the predicted value of the property for the particular pose, and
control, based on the estimated pose, an operation of the movement system to navigate the robot about the floor surface.

2. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the emitted signal comprises a Wi-Fi signal, and the property is an electromagnetic property of the Wi-Fi signal.

3. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the emitted signal comprises a magnetic field, and the property is a property of the magnetic field.

4. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the property of the emitted signal is a strength of the signal.

5. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the motion sensor is configured to detect the motion of the robot by detecting a relative change in location of the robot.

6. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the motion sensor is further configured to detect the motion of the robot by detecting a relative change in orientation of the robot.

7. The robot of claim 1 , wherein
the signal sensor is configured to detect another portion of the emitted signal and provide another value representing a property of the other detected portion of the emitted signal;
the motion sensor is configured to detect another motion of the robot; and
the controller is configured to:
determine another predicted value of the property of the other detected portion based at least in part on extrapolating from the predicted value,
estimate another pose of the robot based at least in part on the other detected motion, the other predicted value, and the other provided value, and
control the operation of the movement system to navigate the robot about the floor surface based on the other estimated pose.

8. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the operation of the movement system to navigate the robot by localizing the robot based on an observation of a feature represented by a set of values of the property of the detected portion of the signal.

9. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to
generate a map representing a distribution of the signal throughout the environment, and
control the operation of the movement system to navigate the robot about the floor surface based on the map.

10. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the robot is an autonomous vacuum cleaner.

11. A method of navigating an autonomous mobile robot through an environment, the method comprising:
detecting a portion of a signal emitted into the environment;
determining a value representing a property of the detected portion of the signal;
detecting a motion of the robot along a floor surface of the environment;
determining a predicted value of the property of the signal for a particular pose of the robot;
estimating a pose of the robot based at least in part on the determined value of the property, the detected motion of the robot, and the predicted value of the property; and
navigate the robot about the floor surface based on the estimated pose.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the emitted signal comprises a Wi-Fi signal, and the property is a property of the Wi-Fi signal.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the emitted signal comprises a magnetic field, and the property is a property of the magnetic field.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the property of the emitted signal is a strength of the signal.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting the motion of the robot comprises detecting a relative change in location of the robot.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting the motion of the robot comprises detecting a relative change in orientation of the robot.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
detecting another portion of a signal emitted into an environment of the robot and providing another value representing a property of the other detected portion of the signal; detecting another motion of the robot;
determining another predicted value of the property based at least in part on extrapolating from the predicted value of the property;
estimating another pose of the robot based at least in part on the other detected motion, the other predicted value, and the other provided value; and
navigating the robot about the floor surface based on the other estimated pose.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein navigating the robot about the floor surface based on the estimated pose comprises localizing the robot based on an observation of a feature corresponding to a set of values of the property of the detected portion of the signal.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising generating a map representing a distribution of the signal throughout the environment, wherein navigating the robot about the environment comprises navigating the robot about the floor surface based on the map.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein navigating the robot about the environment comprises navigating the robot about the floor surface while executing a cleaning operation in the environment.

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

• Gutmann Steffen
• Eade Ethan
• Fong Philip
• Munich Mario

Classifications

• Y10S901/01

  Mobile robot · CPC title

• Y10S901/46

  Sensing device · CPC title

• Y10S901/09

  Closed loop, sensor feedback controls arm movement · 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

• B25J9/1664 Primary

  characterised by motion, path, trajectory planning · CPC title