Trimble Inc.

Shantnu Kakkar

Juan Carlos Santamaria

Justin Creaby

Brandon Sights

Kapil Tahiliani

Eric Paul Boehlke

A method of area coverage planning with replenishment planning includes receiving information of a boundary of the work area, location information of one or more refill stations, and information of a current amount of the material left in the autonomous vehicle, laying a plurality of tracks within the boundary of the work area so as to minimize a total distance of the plurality of tracks, generating a coverage trajectory, and based on (i) the coverage trajectory, (ii) the location information of the one or more refill stations, (iii) the current amount of the material left in the autonomous vehicle, and (iv) a nominal full amount and a nominal consumption rate of the material by the autonomous vehicle, determining one or more logistic points along the coverage trajectory at which a remaining amount of the material reaches a threshold, for each logistic point, generating a replenishment trajectory.

Area coverage planner with replenishment planner

A method of area coverage planning for an autonomous vehicle includes, at a computer system, receiving information of a boundary of a work area, and laying a plurality of tracks within the boundary of the work area. The plurality of tracks is spaced apart from each other by a spacing. Laying the plurality of tracks includes, based on the information of the boundary of the work area, performing a multivariate optimization to: (i) determine an optimal direction of the plurality of tracks, and (ii) an optimal offset for a first track from the boundary, so as to minimize a total distance of the plurality of tracks. The method further includes generating a trajectory that is traversable by the autonomous vehicle to traverse the plurality of tracks.

Area coverage planner

A method of path planning for an autonomous vehicle to make a turn includes receiving a request for a turn of a vehicle from a current swath to a next swath in a work area. The work area has a headland at a periphery thereof, and the headland is characterized by a guidance line therethrough. The method further includes receiving information of the current swath, information of the next swath, and information of the guidance line, and determining a trajectory of the turn based on the information of the current swath, the information of the next swath, and the information of the guidance line. The trajectory includes one or more segments. At least a portion of a first segment of the one or more segments follows the guidance line in the headland. The method further includes, outputting the trajectory to a control system of the vehicle for executing the turn.

Headland-following turns

A method of path planning for a vehicle includes receiving a request for a turn from a current swath to a next swath, receiving information of the current swath and information of the next swath, determining a trajectory of the turn based on the information of the current swath and the information of the next swath, and outputting the trajectory to a control system of the vehicle for executing the turn. The trajectory includes a first segment and a second segment. The first segment starts from a beginning position of the turn at the current swath and ends at an intermediate position; and the second segment starts from the intermediate position and ends at an ending position of the turn at the next swath. The vehicle changes from a forward gear to a reverse gear, or vice versa, as the vehicle transitions from the first segment to the second segment.

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Alpharetta, GA, United States of America

Shantnu Kakkar