Locus Robotics

Abstract A system for determining pose of a lidar sensor in an environment in order to calibrate the lidar sensor. The system includes at least two calibration boards, each having a first edge and a second edge. There is a controller coupled to the lidar sensor to cause the lidar sensor to direct a lidar scan at the calibration boards. The controller causes the lidar sensor to receive a reflection of the lidar scan from the calibration boards and determine locations of a first crossing point on the first edge and a second crossing point on the second edge of the calibration boards. The controller determines a reference plane defined by the first and second crossing points of each of the calibration boards, performs a plane transform of the reference frame to obtain a lidar sensor plane and determine from the lidar sensor plane a pose of the lidar sensor.

Abstract A method for estimating a pose of a robot using two co-planar points on an object plane in the environment and two co-planar lines on the object plane, includes capturing with a camera on the robot an image of the object in the environment, including two observed points corresponding to the two co-planar points on the object and two observed lines corresponding to the two co-planar lines on the object; projecting onto the image plane the two co-planar points to obtain two projected points and projecting the two co-planar lines to obtain two projected lines; determining a point projection error by comparing the two projected co-planar points to corresponding observed points; determining a line projection error by comparing the two projected co-planar lines to corresponding observed lines; and estimating a current robot pose if the point projection error and the line projection error are below a predetermined error threshold.

Abstract A mobile robot having a removable wheel-drive assembly, comprising a mobile base having a chassis and a first wheel well member with a flange. There is a removable wheel drive assembly with a mounting bracket. There is a motor drive unit disposed on the mounting bracket and a wheel/tire connected to the motor drive unit via an axle. There is a second wheel well member on the mounting bracket and positioned between the motor drive unit and the wheel. The second wheel well member includes a central section having an aperture through which the axle passes and a top surface. The top surface of the central section of the second wheel well member engages with the flange of the first wheel well member of the mobile base.

Abstract Robot charging dock includes a charge connector configured to mate with a charging port of a mobile robot. There is a charge connector frame having a front surface on which the charge connector is mounted. The front surface has a first side edge and a second side edge. There is a front cover disposed over the charge connector frame which has an aperture through which the charge connector protrudes. At least a portion of the front cover is spaced from the front surface of the charge connector frame, defining an internal region. There is an opening to the internal region formed along at least a portion of a perimeter of the aperture and there is a light source disposed in the internal region. The light source is directed toward the opening to allow the light source to illuminate charge connector.

Abstract Systems and methods are provided for robot congestion management including a robot monitoring server configured to track a location of a plurality of robots within a navigational space and a plurality of robots in communication with the robot monitoring server, each robot including a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the autonomous robot to determine, from a task list assigned to the robot, a first pose location corresponding to a first task, receive, from the robot monitoring server, congestion information associated with the first pose location, identify a congested state of the first pose location indicated by the congestion information, select, responsive to the identification of the congested state, a second task from the task list, and navigate to a second pose location corresponding to the second task.