Networked robotic manipulators

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9987748-B2
Application number	US-201715632140-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2017
Priority date	Sep 21, 2015
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

Robotic manipulators may be used to manipulate objects. Manipulation data about manipulations performed on objects may be generated and accessed. This data may be analyzed to generate a profile indicating how an object may be manipulated. A portion of the profile may be transmitted to a particular robotic manipulator. For example, the portion may be based on a manipulation capability of the robotic manipulator. In turn, the robotic manipulator may use the portion of the profile to manipulate the object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An inventory system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media comprising computer-readable instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, cause the inventory system to at least:
receive, from a first robotic manipulator, first data about performing an action by the first robotic manipulator, the action associated with manipulating an inventory item;
generate a manipulation profile based at least in part on the first data, the manipulation profile comprising instructions about manipulating the inventory item by performing the action;
transmit a portion of the manipulation profile to a second robotic manipulator based at least in part on the action being supported by the second robotic manipulator, the portion comprising the instructions;
receive, from the second robotic manipulator, second data about performing the action by the second robotic manipulator, the second data comprising an indication of a failure of the second robotic manipulator to perform the action according to the instructions; and
update the instructions in the manipulation profile based at least in part on the second data, the update comprising changing the instructions based at least in part on the failure.

2. The inventory system of claim 1 , wherein the first robotic manipulator is configured to perform a different action that is associated with manipulating the inventory item and that is unsupported by the second robotic manipulator, and wherein the execution of the computer-readable instructions further cause the inventory system to at least:
receive, from the first robotic manipulator, additional data about performing the different action by the first robotic manipulator; and
add, to the manipulation profile, additional instructions about performing the different action based at least in part on the additional data.

3. The inventory system of claim 2 , wherein the portion of the manipulation profile transmitted to the second robotic manipulator excludes the additional instructions based at least in part on the different action being unsupported by the second robotic manipulator.

4. The inventory system of claim 1 , wherein the second robotic manipulator is configured to perform a different action that is associated with manipulating the inventory item and that is unsupported by the first robotic manipulator, and wherein the execution of the computer-readable instructions further cause the inventory system to at least:
receive, from the second robotic manipulator, additional data about performing the different action by the second robotic manipulator; and
add, to the manipulation profile, additional instructions about performing the different action based at least in part on the additional data.

5. The inventory system of claim 4 , wherein the execution of the computer-readable instructions further cause the inventory system to at least:
transmit the instructions and the additional instructions of the manipulation profile to a third robotic manipulator based at least in part on a determination that the third robotic manipulator supports the action and the different action;
receive, from the third robotic manipulator, third data about performing the action and the different action by the third robotic manipulator; and
further update the instructions in the manipulation profile based at least in part on the third data.

6. The inventory system of claim 4 , wherein the execution of the computer-readable instructions further cause the inventory system to at least:
access a profile of the second robotic manipulator, the profile indicating that the second robotic manipulator supports the action and the different action; and
select the portion of the manipulation profile based at least in part on the profile of the second robotic manipulator, the portion comprising the instructions and the additional instructions.

7. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
accessing, by a computer system, first manipulation data of a first robotic manipulator about a manipulation of an object type;
generating, by the computer system, instructions associated with manipulating the object type based at least in part on the first manipulation data;
transmitting, by the computer system, the instructions to a second robotic manipulator that supports the manipulation;
receiving, by the computer system from the second robotic manipulator, second manipulation data of the second robotic manipulator about the manipulation, the second manipulation data generated based at least in part on the instructions, the second manipulation data comprising an indication of a failure of the second robotic manipulator to perform the manipulation according to the instructions; and
updating, by the computer system, the instructions based at least in part on the second manipulation data of the second robotic manipulator, the updating comprising changing the instructions based at least in part on the failure.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein updating the instructions comprises:
sending a request to the first robotic manipulator to confirm the failure of the manipulation at the first robotic manipulator; and
changing the instructions based at least in part on a confirmation of the failure from the first robotic manipulator.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein generating the instructions comprises generating a manipulation profile, and wherein transmitting the instructions comprises:
selecting a portion of the manipulation profile based at least in part on a determination that the second robotic manipulator supports the manipulation, the portion comprising the instructions; and
transmitting the portion of the manipulation profile to the second robotic manipulator.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein selecting the portion of the manipulation profile comprises:
determining, based at least in part on profiles of the first robotic manipulator and second robotic manipulator, that a different manipulation of the object type is supported by the first robotic manipulator and is unsupported by the second robotic manipulator; and
excluding, from the portion of the manipulation profile, different instructions about the different manipulation, the different instructions being available from the manipulation profile based at least in part on different manipulation data of the first robotic manipulator about the different manipulation.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:
requesting, by the computer system from the second robotic manipulator, an indication of whether an attribute associated with the object type has changed, the attribute being common to objects of the object type and impacting the manipulation of the object type;
receiving, by the computer system from the second robotic manipulator based at least in part on the requesting, information that a first set of the objects comprises the attribute unchanged and that a second set of the objects comprises the attribute changed; and
generating, by the computer system, second instructions associated with manipulating the second set of the objects based at least in part on a change to the attribute.

12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising computer-readable instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors, cause a system to perform operations comprising:
accessing first manipulation data of a first robotic manipulator about a manipulation of an object type, the manipulation of the object type associated with an attribute common to objects of the object type;
generat

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Stubbs Andrew
• Mills Diane Grieselhuber
• Longtine John Gregory
• Verminski Matthew David

Classifications

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• B25J9/163

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