Autonomous Work Zone Mapping Across Mixed Terrain Boundaries
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for determining a work zone for unmanned autonomous vehicles require significant user interaction, time, and infrastructural boundaries, limiting their deployment flexibility and efficiency, especially in complex or changing environments.
Innovation Solution
The method involves an unmanned autonomous vehicle autonomously exploring contiguous parts of a terrain from a set of defined points, using cameras and positioning systems to map the work zone without requiring user interaction or boundaries, allowing it to adapt to different ground types and obstacles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the autonomous vehicle moves through the entire terrain to map the environment and determine the work zone, then the work zone can be determined without infrastructural boundaries, but the process takes a lot of time and requires significant user interaction
Solution Approach 1:
The user provides preliminary information about the work zone boundaries before the autonomous vehicle begins its mapping task. This preliminary input allows the vehicle to focus its exploration efforts only on relevant areas, significantly reducing the time needed to determine the complete work zone while maintaining flexibility in adapting to different terrain configurations
2Measurement precision
If the autonomous vehicle explores the entire terrain to create a complete map, then accurate navigation is achieved, but the complexity of the determination process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The terrain mapping process is segmented into multiple phases: initial boundary information reception, selective area exploration, and progressive map construction. The vehicle divides the terrain into manageable sections based on user-provided boundaries, exploring only necessary areas in a structured sequence, which reduces overall process complexity while maintaining mapping accuracy
3Speed
If infrastructural boundaries are used to restrict the autonomous vehicle, then the vehicle can be deployed quickly, but the solution lacks flexibility when terrain changes or only part of the terrain needs to be processed
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static infrastructural boundaries to dynamic, software-defined boundaries that can be easily modified through code. The work zone boundaries are stored as programmable parameters, allowing rapid reconfiguration of the operational area without physical infrastructure changes, thus achieving both quick deployment and high adaptability to terrain variations
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method for determining a work zone for an unmanned autonomous vehicle, comprising determining a set of points within the work zone, with the vehicle capturing at least one image of a ground at each point, and determining classifications for ground types, exploration by the vehicle of a contiguous part of the terrain up to a perimeter, starting from a point within the contiguous part, wherein an obstacle or a transition to a different ground type is part of the perimeter, wherein the vehicle determines a position during exploration, repeating the previous step from a next point, where the next point is not in an already explored part, and creating a map of the work zone, corresponding to the explored parts, based on the determined positions. The invention also relates to an unmanned autonomous vehicle and a use.