Transportation Vehicle And Method For Controlling A Robot
Patent No. US11020856 (titled "Transportation Vehicle And Method For Controlling A Robot") was filed by Volkswagen Ag on Jul 17, 2018.
What is this patent about?
’856 is related to the field of controlling robots, particularly in scenarios where robots perform tasks related to transportation vehicles. The background involves the increasing use of robots in manufacturing, maintenance, and service tasks for vehicles, including welding, painting, refueling, and charging. Traditional robot control systems require complex and expensive control hardware integrated directly into the robot itself.
The underlying idea behind ’856 is to offload the robot's control functions to the transportation vehicle's existing controller. Instead of the robot having its own dedicated control system, the vehicle's onboard computer generates the control signals and transmits them to the robot via a data interface. This simplifies the robot's design, reducing its cost and complexity, as it primarily needs only drives, drive boosters, and a compatible data interface.
The claims of ’856 focus on a transportation vehicle equipped with a data interface for communicating with a robot, a controller that generates control signals for the robot to perform a specific task, and a sensor arrangement that detects the robot's posture and/or axle positions. The controller uses the sensor data to calculate the necessary adjustments to achieve a target posture or position and sends corresponding axle position commands to the robot.
In practice, the vehicle's sensor system monitors the robot's position and orientation, feeding this data back to the vehicle's controller. The controller then calculates the necessary movements and sends commands to the robot's actuators to perform the desired task. This allows the vehicle to effectively 'remote control' the robot, leveraging the vehicle's processing power and sensor capabilities.
This approach differs from conventional systems where the robot has its own independent control system. By centralizing control in the transportation vehicle, the robot can be simpler and cheaper, as it no longer needs its own sophisticated control hardware. Furthermore, the vehicle's existing sensors and processing power can be utilized for both vehicle operation and robot control, creating a synergistic system that reduces overall cost and complexity.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the late 2010s when ’856 was filed, robots were increasingly integrated into diverse applications, including manufacturing and transportation. At a time when robots were typically implemented with dedicated control hardware, systems commonly relied on wired or wireless communication protocols for data exchange between robots and other devices. Hardware or software constraints made real-time control and coordination of multiple devices non-trivial.
Novelty and Inventive Step
The claims were rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Michalakis (US 10,207,411) and under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Michalakis, in view of Perrone (US 9,833,901) and Metzler et al. (US 9,482,524). Arguments were presented by the applicant. The prosecution record does NOT describe the technical reasoning or specific claim changes that led to allowance.
Claims
This patent contains 12 claims, with claims 1, 8, and 9 being independent. The independent claims focus on a transportation vehicle with a data interface and controller for managing a robot, a system including the transportation vehicle and robot, and a method for controlling a robot using the transportation vehicle. The dependent claims generally elaborate on specific features, components, or applications of the transportation vehicle, system, and method described in the independent claims.
Key Claim Terms New
Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.
Patent Family
File Wrapper
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Date
Description
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US11020856
- Application Number
- US16037911
- Filing Date
- Jul 17, 2018
- Status
- Granted
- Expiry Date
- Jun 13, 2039
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents