Leader-Follower Navigation Models for Self-Driving Vehicles Indoors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Self-driving vehicles lack the ability to naturally and efficiently navigate through various structural elements like doorways and elevators while following a human leader, leading to potential obstructions and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for a self-driving vehicle to implement behavior models that allow it to cooperatively navigate through structural elements by tracking and replicating human leader actions, using sensors and data processing to execute appropriate stops, starts, and movements in response to environmental and human actions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If self-driving vehicles use traditional navigation methods, then they can maintain simple control systems, but they lack the ability to naturally navigate through structural elements like doorways and elevators while following human leaders
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures human leader behavior through motion capture technology and replicates it in behavior models. The follower vehicle copies the leader's navigation patterns through doorways, elevators, and other structural elements, enabling natural interaction without complex decision-making algorithms.
Solution Approach 2:
Human leaders perform preliminary actions by physically navigating through various structural elements while being tracked. This data is collected beforehand to create comprehensive behavior models that the follower vehicle can execute, eliminating the need for real-time complex decision-making.
2Reliability
If self-driving vehicles implement behavior models to cooperatively navigate with human leaders, then they improve safety and user-friendliness, but they require complex tracking and measurement systems
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously tracks the human leader's position, speed, and navigation decisions, feeding this information back to the behavior model. The follower vehicle adjusts its actions based on this feedback to maintain safe following distance and replicate appropriate behavior in response to the leader's movements.
Solution Approach 2:
Complex mechanical tracking systems are replaced with optical and sensor-based detection methods. The system uses cameras, LIDAR, and other sensors to capture leader behavior, substituting mechanical measurement devices with more precise and less intrusive sensing technologies.
3Adaptability or versatility
If self-driving vehicles track and measure leader interactions in real-time, then they can determine appropriate behavioral models, but they increase processing requirements and energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
Behavior models are pre-computed and stored based on previously captured leader interactions. During actual operation, the system only needs to match current sensor data against these pre-existing models, dramatically reducing real-time processing requirements and energy consumption while maintaining high adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The behavior model is divided into discrete segments or states corresponding to different navigation scenarios (doorways, elevators, hallways). The system processes only the relevant segment based on the current situation, reducing overall processing load while maintaining comprehensive behavioral coverage.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a method of modeling behavior for a self-driving vehicle, e.g., as a follower vehicle. Also provided is a vehicle configured to execute the behavior model to cooperatively navigate at least one structural element in an environment. The structural element can be or include a door, a vestibule, and/or an elevator, as examples. The behavior model can be formed by a method that includes tracking and measuring leader-follower interactions and actions with at least one structural element of an environment, representing the leader behaviors and the follower behavior in a behavior model, and electronically storing the behavioral model. The leader-follower interactions and actions can include leader behaviors and follower behaviors, including starts, stops, pauses, and movements of the leader, follower vehicle, and/or objects.