Robot Skill Footprint Deconfliction for Concurrent Action Planning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manual programming of robotic movements in robotics planning is tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone, and often incompatible across different workcells due to varying physical properties and robot configurations, leading to conflicts during multi-robot operations.
Innovation Solution
A system that generates conflict-free skill plans by using skill footprints for deconfliction evaluation, allowing concurrent execution of skills across multiple robots in a workcell, adapting to real-time conditions and ensuring safe and efficient operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual programming is used to dictate robotic movements, then the robot can perform tasks with precise control, but the programming process becomes tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables robots to automatically generate their own motion plans by defining skills with entry/exit conditions and footprints. The robotic system serves itself by autonomously determining conflict-free concurrent executions without requiring manual programming intervention for each task sequence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the programming approach by changing parameters from detailed motion commands to high-level skill definitions. By specifying skills, their footprints, and concurrency conditions rather than individual movements, the system reduces programming complexity while maintaining execution precision.
2Reliability
If manual programming is used to create schedules for one workcell, then the schedule can be optimized for that specific workcell, but it becomes incompatible with other workcells having different robots or physical dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
The skill definition framework provides universal applicability across different workcells. By defining skills with abstract footprints and conditions rather than workcell-specific coordinates, the same skill library can be adapted to multiple workcells with different robots and physical dimensions through parameter instantiation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the robotic task into independent skills with defined entry and exit conditions. Each skill is a self-contained unit that can be independently evaluated for concurrency and conflict detection, allowing flexible recombination and adaptation across different workcell configurations.
3Productivity
If multiple robots are assigned to perform the same action concurrently, then productivity increases, but conflicts occur when robots approach overlapping regions or use common tools
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary conflict detection by evaluating skill footprints and spatial-temporal overlaps before concurrent execution. The deconfliction process proactively identifies and resolves potential conflicts between multiple robots attempting concurrent actions, preventing collisions and tool interference before they occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The concurrency evaluation mechanism provides feedback on whether skills can safely execute concurrently by checking for overlapping footprints and resource conflicts. This feedback loop allows the system to adjust execution plans, sequencing conflicting skills appropriately while maintaining maximum concurrency for non-conflicting operations.
4Productivity
If sequential actions are assigned for concurrent execution to improve efficiency, then productivity increases, but conflicts occur when a preceding action is a prerequisite for a subsequent action
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary dependency analysis by evaluating entry conditions and skill prerequisites before determining concurrent execution feasibility. Actions with prerequisite relationships are identified in advance, ensuring proper sequencing is maintained even when maximizing concurrency opportunities.
Solution Approach 2:
The execution plan dynamically adjusts based on skill dependencies and conflict detection results. The system flexibly determines which skills can execute concurrently versus which must sequence based on their conditional relationships, optimizing productivity while preserving necessary execution order for prerequisite-dependent tasks.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for robotics planning. One of the methods comprises receiving data defining multiple skills to be performed by one or more robots in an operating environment; invoking a projection function implemented by a skill, wherein the projection function generates a skill footprint representing resources requested for performing the skill and a volume occupied by a corresponding entity used to perform the skill; determining that an initial skill footprint generated by the projection function conflicts with a skill footprint of another skill already being executed; and in response, reinvoking the projection function with data representing the skill footprint of the other skill already being executed.