Caterpillar Inc.

Carl A Kemner

Craig L Koehrsen

Joel L Peterson

Karl W Kleimenhagen

Walter J Bradbury

Larry E Schmidt

William L Whittaker

Darrell E Stafford

Louis J Weinbeck

Adam J Gudat

Christos T Kyrtsos

Lonnie J Devier

Dana A Christensen

Norman K Lay

Sanjiv J Singh

Dong Hun Shin

Richard G Clow

Prithvi N Rao

Jay H West

Gary K Shaffer

Wenfan Shi

James W Sennott

Baoxin Wu

Jagannathan Sarangapani

Mark R Hawkins

N Keith Lay

Chuong Q Dam

William E Allen

Richard B League

Douglas W Friedrich

Ronald O Groth

Jack R Davis

Jeffrey A Livingston

Larry C Clemens

Method and apparatus to detect a change in a work tool with an engaging portion. A control system senses a change in the relationship between the engaging portion of the work tool and at least one of the work tool and another engaging portion of the work tool. If the change is greater than a predetermined value, the control system produces an error signal.

Method and apparatus to detect change in work tool

The present invention is a method and apparatus for planning an alternate path in response to detection of an obstacle by a mobile machine at a work site. The work site includes a fleet of mobile machines and a fleet manager. The method includes the steps of determining the presence and location of an obstacle in a primary path of the mobile machine, determining an alternate path around the obstacle, and delivering a signal to the fleet manager with the location of the obstacle and the alternate path.

Method and apparatus for determining an alternate path in response to

The invention is a system and method for managing a service resource by a fleet of mobile machines. Each of the mobile machines has a queue manager adapted to generate a queue position request signal as the mobile machine approaches the service resource. A service manager is on each mobile machine, and is adapted to generate a service request signal in response to a condition of the mobile machine. A resource manager is adapted to establish and control a queue to control access to the resource in response to receiving a queue request position signal. The resource manager is also adapted to receive a service request signal, and responsively determine when to allow the mobile machine to access the service resource based on a condition of each of the mobile machine in the fleet.

System and method for managing access of a fleet of mobile machines to a

A system and method for controlling the navigation of surface based vehicle uses a route that is obtained by manually driving the vehicle over the route to collect data defining the absolute position of the vehicle at various positions along the route. The collected data is smoothed to provide a consistent route to be followed. The smoothed data is subsequently used to automatically guide the vehicle over the route.

Apparatus and method for autonomous vehicle navigation using absolute

The invention is a system and method for managing a resource having a stop point. Each of at least one mobile machine includes a queue manager adapted to generate a queue position request as the mobile machine approaches the resource. A resource manager is adapted to establish a queue to control access to the resource. After receiving the queue position request from the approaching mobile machine, the resource manager generates a queue position and sends it to the mobile machine. The resource manager then determines the next stop point to be accessed. When the resource is available to receive another mobile machine, the resource manger directs the first mobile machine in the selected queue to proceed to access the stop point.

System and method for managing a fleet of mobile machines for dumping at

A system and method for managing access of at least one mobile machine to a load resource having a loading machine including a queue manager adapted to deliver a queue position request signal, a resource manager adapted to control access to the load resource, and a load manager adapted to determine a load point for a mobile machine.

System and method for managing access to a load resource having a

The invention is a system and method for managing a resource having a dump location. A plurality of stop points are located adjacent to the dump location. Each of a plurality of mobile machines includes a queue manager adapted to generate a queue position request signal as each mobile machine approaches the resource. A resource manager is adapted to establish and control a queue to control access to the resource in response to receiving a queue position request signal. The resource manager is also adapted to enable simultaneous access of the dump location by the mobile machines.

Method and apparatus for managing simultaneous access to a resource by a

A system and method for managing access to a resource by at least one mobile machine including a queue manager adapted to generate a queue position request signal as a mobile machine approaches the resource and determine if access to the resource is unsuccessful. The queue manager also generates a access status signal after access the resource. The system and method also includes a resource manager adapted to control access to the resource by the mobile machine.

System and method for managing access to a resource shared by a

The invention is a system and method for managing a resource having multiple entry points. Each mobile machine includes a queue manager for generating a queue position request upon approach to the resource. A resource manager establishes queues, one for each entry point to the resource, to control access to the resource. Upon receiving a queue position request from an approaching mobile machine, the resource manager determines which queue to place the mobile machine, and then generates a queue position and sends a queue position signal to the approaching mobile machine.

A system (400) for positioning and navigating an autonomous vehicle (310) allows the vehicle (310) to travel between locations. Position information (432) is derived from global positioning system satellites (200, 202, 204, and 206) or other sources (624) when the satellites (200, 202, 204, and 206) are not in the view of the vehicle (310). Navigation of the vehicle (310) is obtained using the position information (432), route information (414), obstacle detection and avoidance data (416), and on board vehicle data (908 and 910).

System and a method for enabling a vehicle to track a preset path

A system and method for enabling an autonomous vehicle to track a desired path plans a continuous path to return to the desired path when the vehicle deviates from the desired path. The continuous path is determined based on the vehicle's position, the desired path, and a lookahead distance. The lookahead distance is the distance on the desired path within which the continuous path and the desired path converge. The lookahead distance may vary as a function of vehicle speed. In one embodiment of the present invention, the continuous path is determined as a quintic polynomial.

System and method for enabling an autonomous vehicle to track a desired

A system and method for causing an autonomous vehicle to track a desired path uses reference postures to define the desired path. Actual vehicle postures are determined using sensors aboard the autonomous vehicle. An expected vehicle posture at the end of a next time interval is determined on the actual vehicle posture. A desired vehicle posture at the end of the next time interval is determined based on the reference postures. A steering angle for the next time interval for the autonomous vehicle is determined based on the difference between the reference posture and the desired vehicle posture at the end of the next time interval.

System and method for causing an autonomous vehicle to track a path

A system for generating a path allows a vehicle to traverse a predetermined route. The system stores route data for the predetermined route. The route data identifies a series of contiguous path segments that form the predetermined route. The route data also identifies a series of nodes located at the beginning and the end of the predetermined route and between adjacent path segments. Each path segment represents a series of postures along the predetermined route. Each posture identifies a position, a heading, and a curvature for the vehicle at a particular point along the predetermined route. The system stores the path segments and nodes as compressed path data. In one embodiment, the compressed path data is a function that is continuous in posture, i.e., continuous in position, heading and curvature. The system retrieves the compressed path data and generates a series of postures from the retrieved compressed path data to allow the vehicle to traverse the predetermined route.

System and method for generating paths in an autonomous vehicle

An apparatus and method for controlling a surface-based vehicle provides three operational modes: a manual operation, a tele-operation, and an autonomous operation. In manual operation, an operator directly manipulates vehicle controls on the vehicle. In tele-operation, the operator controls the vehicle from a remote position. In autonomous operation, the vehicle controls itself based on its position and a predetermined path. The apparatus and method of the present invention provides an orderly transition between manual operation, tele-operation, and autonomous operation of the vehicle.

Apparatus and method for surface based vehicle control system

A system and method for controlling an autonomously navigated vehicle uses a vehicle manager to control vehicle subsystems and to respond to commands from either a vehicle navigation system or a remote control panel. The vehicle manager controls vehicle subsystems including a speed control subsystem, a steering control subsystem, an auxiliary control subsystem, and a monitor subsystem. The speed control subsystem controls the speed of the vehicle in response to a speed command from the vehicle manager. The steering control subsystem controls the steering angle of the vehicle in response to a steering command from the vehicle manager. The auxiliary control subsystem controls auxiliary functions of the vehicle in response to an auxiliary command from the vehicle manager. The monitor subsystem monitors the status of each of the other subsystems and provides the status to the vehicle manager.

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Peoria Heights, IL, United States of America

Carl A Kemner