Robot Path Planning With Virtual Colliders for Prefabrication

The patent creates a virtual copy of the construction environment and components within a game engine. This virtual representation allows the path-finding algorithm to operate on digital models rather than physical components, enabling visualization and testing without affecting real-world operations. The virtual environment accurately replicates component specifications, robot dimensions, and spatial relationships, allowing engineers to validate paths before execution.

The game engine serves as an intermediary layer between the physical robot system and the path-planning algorithm. It provides a virtual sandbox where complex path-finding computations can be performed and visualized, acting as a mediator that translates abstract algorithmic outputs into concrete, visualizable robot trajectories that account for specific component geometries and constraints.

The patent performs preliminary path validation and collision detection in the virtual environment before the robot executes motions in the physical world. By pre-computing and verifying paths against all building components in the digital twin, the system ensures collision-free operation without requiring time-consuming real-time computations during actual robot execution, thus maintaining both safety and productivity.

By creating virtual copies of all building components and the robot itself, the system can perform exhaustive collision checks in silico. This virtual replication allows multiple path scenarios to be tested and validated without impacting real-world construction timelines, ensuring reliability while maintaining productivity through parallel virtual experimentation.

The patent uses simplified virtual models of components that capture essential geometric features and dimensions needed for collision detection, rather than requiring full photorealistic detail. These virtual copies maintain sufficient precision for path validation while being computationally efficient to process, striking an optimal balance between accuracy and complexity through purposeful model abstraction.

The system applies different levels of model detail selectively - using high-fidelity representations only where critical for collision detection (such as component boundaries and key geometric features) while employing simplified models for less critical aspects. This localized quality approach ensures measurement precision where needed while reducing overall computational burden.