Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Ford Motor Company Limited

Gregory P Linkowski

Mario Anthony Santillo

Meghna Menon

Ling Zhu

Shankar Narayan Mohan

Krishna Bandi

Anthony Mario D'Amato

Geoffrey Horowitz

Kenneth Yesh

Yifan Chen

Somak Datta Gupta

Sarah Garrow

Songan Zhang

A method for the determination of pose information associated with a vehicle, the determination of a steering angle offset of the vehicle using an offset determination model configured to learn the steering angle offset of the vehicle, and the transmission of one or more steering angle offset commands to the vehicle.

System and method for calibrating steering angle offset using infrastructure sensors

A method of wirelessly communicating status information of one or more vehicles with one or more infrastructures including the receipt of an onboarding process trigger based on a current status associated with a pre-onboarding process of the one or more vehicles, the determination of a current status associated with an onboarding process of the one or more vehicles based on the onboarding process trigger and an autonomous vehicle marshaling algorithm, and the output of an indication corresponding to the current status associated with the onboarding process of the one or more vehicles via exterior lights of the one or more vehicles to the one or more infrastructures or one or more human operators.

System and method of providing marshaling status via vehicle exterior lights

A method includes estimating, by a vehicle communication system, a vehicle-localized time based on a previous vehicle system time and at least one internal factor in response to a primary synchronization data not being received and in response to an auxiliary synchronization data not being received. The previous vehicle system time is based on at least one of a previous primary synchronization data or a previous auxiliary synchronization data. The method further includes synchronizing, by the vehicle communication system, a vehicle system time employed by one or more vehicle modules disposed in the vehicle based on one of the primary synchronization data received, the auxiliary synchronization data received, or the vehicle-localized time estimated.

Method and system for a tiered time synchronization protocol for a set of vehicles

A method for controlling vehicle movement includes: obtaining, by a vehicle, at least one radio frequency (RF) signal metric for a plurality of RF signals broadcasted in a manufacturing environment; broadcasting, by the vehicle, a vehicle message when the at least one RF signal metric satisfies at least one RF communication issue condition; generating, by an infrastructure system, an RF map based on the vehicle message and at least one additional vehicle message from at least one additional vehicle; and dynamically adjusting an infrastructure message, by the infrastructure system, based on the RF map when the vehicle autonomously navigates within the manufacturing environment.

System and method of adjusting the automated plant marshaling based on dynamic RF signals

A method for calibrating a map of an autonomous robot, a trajectory of the autonomous robot, or a combination thereof includes obtaining localization data from a localization sensor of the autonomous robot and determining whether a calibration condition of the autonomous robot is satisfied based on the localization data. The method includes, in response to the calibration condition being satisfied: determining a master position coordinate of the autonomous robot based on a plurality of radio frequency (RF) signals broadcasted by a plurality of RF tags, converting the master position coordinate to a local position coordinate of the autonomous robot, and selectively updating the map, the trajectory, or a combination thereof based on the local position coordinate of the autonomous robot.

Systems and methods for calibrating a map of an autonomous robot

A method for controlling a plurality of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in a manufacturing environment having an intersection includes obtaining a plurality of routes associated with the plurality of AMRs, velocity information associated with the plurality of AMRs, and priority information associated with the plurality of AMRs, and determining a plurality of arrival times associated with the plurality of AMRs based on the velocity information and the plurality of routes. The method includes generating a plurality of intersection reservations based on the plurality of arrival times and the priority information, where each intersection reservation from among the plurality of intersection reservations corresponds to an AMR from among the plurality of AMRs, and controlling a movement of the plurality of AMRs through the intersection based on the plurality of intersection reservations.

Systems and methods for controlling autonomous mobile robots in a manufacturing environment

A method includes generating a workspace model having one or more digital robots, one or more digital sensors, and a digital transport system. The method includes simulating, for a task of the one or more digital robots, a sensor operation of the one or more digital sensors within the workspace model based on sensor characteristics of the one or more digital sensors. The method includes identifying, for the task of the one or more digital robots, an undetectable area within the workspace model based on the simulated sensor operation. The method includes selectively positioning, by a transport system, a set of sensors from among the one or more sensors based on the undetectable areas associated with the task.

Method and system for positioning sensors within a workspace

A method includes generating a workspace model having one or more robots and a plurality of image sensors, defining a plurality of pose scenarios of the one or more robots, and defining sensor characteristics of the plurality of image sensors. The method includes, for each of the plurality of pose scenarios, simulating a sensor operation of the plurality of image sensors within the workspace model based on the sensor characteristics and identifying an undetectable area within the workspace model based on the simulated sensor operation. The method includes performing a sensor placement control based on the undetectable areas associated with each of the plurality of pose scenarios.

Method and system for determining sensor placement for a workspace based on robot pose scenarios

A system for reconfiguring a factory having equipment at different workstations throughout the factory and a plurality of sensors disposed throughout the factory includes a factory configuration module configured to store a plurality of predetermined factory configurations and a plurality of mobile transporters configured to engage and transport the equipment to the different workstations throughout the factory based on the predetermined factory configurations and dynamic inputs, where the dynamic inputs include a status of the equipment, a status of the plurality of mobile transporters, sensor data output by the plurality of sensors, or a combination thereof.

Deployable mobile transporters for easy plant reconfiguration

A vehicle can be detected approaching a limited operation zone of a travel area. It can be determined that the vehicle is able to execute wireless commands from a computer. The object can be identified within the limited operation zone. Based on identifying the object within the limited operation zone, the vehicle can be controlled by providing a control command via wireless communications, the control command including whether the vehicle is permitted to enter the limited operation zone.

Infrastructure-based vehicle management

A system and method for reconfiguring a factory having equipment at different workstations throughout the factory includes a plurality of mobile transporters configured to engage and transport the equipment to the different workstations throughout the factory. Each mobile transporter includes a transmitter, a receiver, at least one proximity sensor, and an engagement mechanism for engaging the equipment. A factory configuration module includes a 3D model of the factory and a plurality of predetermined factory configurations. A supervisory control module is in communication with the plurality of mobile transporters, the equipment, and the factory configuration module. The plurality of mobile transporters are configured to receive instructions from the supervisory control module to engage and reposition the equipment throughout the factory based on the predetermined factory configurations and dynamic inputs.

A method includes generating a workspace model having a robot based on at least one of an environment parameter and a regulated space. The workspace model is a digital model of a workspace. The method includes simulating a sensor operation of a sensor within the workspace model based on sensor characteristics of the sensor. The method includes identifying an undetectable area within the workspace model having the robot based on the simulated sensor operation. The method includes determining whether the undetectable area satisfies one or more detection metrics. The method includes performing a sensor placement control in response to the undetectable area not satisfying the one or more detection metrics to obtain a sensor placement scheme of the workspace. The sensor placement scheme identifies an undetectable area within the workspace when applicable.

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Dearborn, MI, United States of America

Gregory P Linkowski