Systems and methods for determining a status of a component of a device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9802318-B2
Application number	US-201615289313-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2016
Priority date	Feb 7, 2012
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining a status of a component of a device are provided. An example method includes triggering an action of a component of a device, and responsively receiving information associated with the action of the component from a sensor. The method further includes a computing system having a processor and a memory comparing the information with calibration data and determining a status of the component based on the comparison. In some examples, the calibration data may include information derived from data received from a pool of one or more devices utilizing same or similar components as the component. The determined status may include information associated with a performance of the component with respect to performances of same or similar components of the pool of devices. In one example, the device may self-calibrate the component based on the status.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining, by a computing system, a sensor value for a sensor of a robotic device;
determining, by the computing system, a nominal value based on sensor values received from a pool of one or more robotic devices utilizing same or similar sensors as the sensor of the robotic device;
determining, by the computing system, that an absolute value of a difference between the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device and the nominal value is greater than a threshold value; and
based on determining that the absolute value of the difference between the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device and the nominal value is greater than the threshold value, calibrating the sensor of the robotic device by the computing system such that the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device is substantially consistent with the nominal value.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nominal value comprises a population mean of the sensor values received from the pool of one or more robotic devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nominal value comprises a median of the sensor values received from the pool of one or more robotic devices.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nominal value comprises a mode of the sensor values received from the pool of one or more robotic devices.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pool of one or more robotic devices is at or near a same location as the robotic device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor of the robotic device and the same or similar sensors of the pool of one or more robotic devices are each configured to determine a temperature.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pool of one or more robotic devices includes anonymous robotic devices.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor values received from the pool of one or more robotic devices utilizing same or similar sensors comprises real-time data from the pool of one or more robotic devices.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
modifying the threshold based on the real-time data from the pool of one or more robotic devices.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a server.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the sensor value and an amount of offset applied to the sensor in a database.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the computing system, that the absolute value of the difference between the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device and the nominal value is greater than a second threshold value; and
responsively sending a communication signal indicating to repair the robotic device.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed on a continuous basis so as to calibrate the sensor based on changing conditions in an environment in which the robotic device resides.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed upon initialization of the robotic device.

15. A non-transitory computer readable memory having stored therein instructions executable by one or more computing devices to cause the one or more computing devices to perform functions comprising:
determining a sensor value for a sensor of a robotic device;
determining a nominal value based on sensor values received from a pool of one or more robotic devices utilizing same or similar sensors as the sensor of the robotic device;
determining that an absolute value of a difference between the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device and the nominal value is greater than a threshold value; and
based on determining that the absolute value of the difference between the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device and the nominal value is greater than the threshold value, calibrating the sensor of the robotic device such that the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device is substantially consistent with the nominal value.

16. The non-transitory computer readable memory of claim 15 , wherein the nominal value comprises a population mean of the sensor values received from the pool of one or more robotic devices.

17. The non-transitory computer readable memory of claim 15 , wherein the pool of one or more robotic devices is at or near a same location as the robotic device.

18. The non-transitory computer readable memory of claim 15 , wherein the sensor values received from the pool of one or more robotic devices utilizing same or similar sensors comprises real-time data from the pool of one or more robotic devices, and the functions further comprise:
modifying the threshold based on the real-time data from the pool of one or more robotic devices.

19. A robotic device comprising:
a control system configured to:
determine a sensor value for a sensor of the robotic device;
determine a nominal value based on sensor values received from a pool of one or more robotic devices utilizing same or similar sensors as the sensor of the robotic device;
determine that an absolute value of a difference between the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device and the nominal value is greater than a threshold value; and
based on determining that the absolute value of the difference between the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device and the nominal value is greater than the threshold value, calibrate the sensor of the robotic device such that the sensor value for the sensor of the robotic device is substantially consistent with the nominal value.

20. The robotic device of claim 19 , wherein the nominal value comprises a population mean of the sensor values received from the pool of one or more robotic devices.

Assignees

• X Dev Llc

Inventors

• Kuffner Jr James J
• Hickman Ryan

Classifications

• H04L67/12 Primary

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• B25J5/005

  mounted on endless tracks or belts · CPC title

• G06F9/5072

  Grid computing · CPC title

• B62D55/075

  Tracked vehicles for ascending or descending stairs, {steep slopes or vertical surfaces}(magnetic or pneumatic ground-engaging parts B62D55/265; chairs or multi-track cycles specially adapted for invalids A61G5/00) · CPC title

• G05B2219/39413

  Robot self diagnostics · CPC title