Energy-Efficiency Coach With Reinforcement-Learned Score Normalization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Operator behavior in vehicles significantly impacts energy efficiency, and existing systems lack the ability to provide equitable scoring across different vehicle types, operators, and environmental conditions, leading to inconsistent rewards and feedback effectiveness.
Innovation Solution
An intelligent energy-efficiency coach that uses tunable variables and reinforcement learning to normalize performance scores by considering vehicle and environmental factors, providing personalized feedback and rewards based on operator behavior metrics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a standardized scoring method is used across all vehicles and operators, then the system is simple to implement, but the scoring is not equitable due to differences in vehicle configurations, environmental factors, and driving styles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by customizing the scoring system to each operator's specific context. Instead of a uniform scoring method, the system adjusts performance scores based on local characteristics including vehicle type, environmental conditions, and individual driving styles. This allows each operator to be evaluated against their own baseline and comparable peers rather than a one-size-fits-all standard, thereby achieving scoring equity while maintaining implementation feasibility through automated data collection and processing.
2Measurement precision
If performance scores are normalized to account for external factors, then scoring equity is improved, but the system complexity increases due to multiple variables and calculations
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies self-service by automatically collecting, processing, and normalizing performance data without requiring manual intervention. The intelligent energy-efficiency coach autonomously gathers data from vehicle sensors, retrieves environmental information, calculates performance scores with appropriate normalizations, and provides feedback to operators. This automation handles the complexity of multiple variables and calculations internally, presenting a simplified interface to users while maintaining equitable scoring through sophisticated backend processing.
3Ease of operation
If feedback is personalized to individual operators and vehicles, then feedback receptivity and effectiveness are improved, but the data processing and analysis requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by providing personalized performance information to each operator through the intelligent energy-efficiency coach. The system analyzes individual operator behaviors, compares them to their own historical baselines and to peer performers in similar contexts, then delivers tailored feedback highlighting specific behaviors that impact energy efficiency. This personalized feedback approach increases effectiveness and operator receptivity by making the information relevant and actionable for each user, while automated data processing handles the analytical requirements efficiently.
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and methods of providing intelligent energy-efficiency performance coaching. Energy efficiency performance is measured by a performance score calculated in association with various efficiency metrics. The performance score may be provided as feedback to the operator and may further be used by an operator reward system and/or gamification system. An intelligent energy-efficiency coach responds to variability in operator behaviors by using tunable variables to bias weighting constants assigned to the efficiency metrics to normalize calculations of performance scores. The intelligent energy-efficiency coach may use reinforcement machine learning techniques to calculate tunable variables and adjust performance scores on an ad hoc basis. A mutual learning process may be performed, where the operator may learn energy saving behaviors from feedback provided by the intelligent energy-efficiency coach to improve energy efficiency and the intelligent energy-efficiency coach adjusts tunable variables to help the operator improve their energy efficiency performance.