Autonomous UAV Skill APIs for Safer High-Level Flight Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current UAV systems require piloting expertise and are prone to crashes due to pilot error, as they necessitate direct control of pitch, roll, yaw, and power, which is complex and error-prone.
Innovation Solution
A development platform with APIs, SDKs, and software tools allows developers to create 'skills' that specify high-level behavioral intentions, enabling intuitive control of autonomous UAVs through APIs, simplifying the complexity of navigation and flight operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If direct control of pitch, roll, yaw, and power is used for UAV operation, then control precision can be maintained, but operation complexity increases and reliability decreases due to pilot error
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an autonomous navigation system as an intermediary between the pilot and UAV control. This system includes a motion planning module that generates trajectories and a control module that executes them, mediating the complex control tasks and reducing pilot burden while maintaining or improving flight safety through automated decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The UAV is equipped with autonomous navigation capabilities that enable it to perform self-control functions. The system can independently plan motion trajectories, navigate to destinations, avoid obstacles, and return to home locations without continuous manual intervention, effectively making the UAV serve itself in critical flight operations.
2Ease of operation
If autonomous navigation system is implemented, then ease of operation improves, but device complexity increases due to additional software and processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The autonomous navigation system is designed with multi-functional capabilities that consolidate various navigation tasks into a unified framework. The motion planning module handles multiple objectives (destination reaching, obstacle avoidance, home return) through a single integrated system, reducing overall system complexity despite the added autonomous capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The navigation system is segmented into distinct functional modules: a motion planning module for trajectory generation and a control module for execution. This modular architecture allows each module to be optimized independently while maintaining clear interfaces, managing complexity through structured division of functions.
Data Source
AI summary
A technique is described for developing and using applications and skills with an autonomous vehicle. In an example embodiment, a development platform is provided that enables access to a developer console for developing software modules for use with an autonomous vehicle. Using the developer console, a developer user can specify instructions for causing an autonomous vehicle to perform one or more operations. For example, to control the behavior of an autonomous vehicle, the instructions can cause an executing computer system at the autonomous vehicle to generate calls to an application programming interface (API) associated with an autonomous navigation system of autonomous vehicle. Such calls to the API can be configured to adjust a parameter of a behavioral objective associated with a trajectory generation process performed by the autonomous navigation system that controls the behavior of the autonomous vehicle. The instructions specified by the developer can be packaged as a software module that can be deployed for use at autonomous vehicle.