Digital Aerolus, Inc.

Mvt Equity LLC

Combustion Engineering, Inc.

Inoue Technologies, LLC

Inoe Technologies, LLC

Thomas D Williams

Jeffery J Alholm

Ian J McEwan

John C Blessing

Jacob B Davisson

Laurence R Williams

Frank C Glazer

Jay D Manifold

Nitin M Vaidya

Carl H Neuschaefer

Matthew David Allen

Joseph E Kowles

Alfred A Hough

Peter W Rzasa

Frank Glazer

A vehicle and method of control comprising generating a geometric control envelope in a geometric space of operation points defined by a number of control aspects, the envelope having vertices representing maximum values of the control aspects, and determining a desired operation point in the geometric space representing a control input. Further, the method includes if the desired operation point is outside the envelope, scaling up a first one of the control aspects by a first factor, determining an effective operation point in the envelope geometrically closest to the desired operation point, scaling down all of the control aspects by a second factor inverse of the first factor, and instructing the propulsion mechanisms to propel the vehicle according to the effective operation point.

Geometric control envelope system and method for limiting commands to actuator mapping function

A method and system for controlling movement of a vehicle. Movement, orientation, and position data of the vehicle is collected. A model of kinematics of the vehicle and its environment is created and a Theory of World model is produced and updated. The model includes geometric algebra multivectors. Errors and noise are stored as geometrically meaningful first-class objects within the multivectors. Geometric algebra operations are used to manipulate the model during operation. Error and noise data are propagated and manipulated using geometric algebra operations to reflect measurement and processing errors or noise. The models are used in generation of control data with a primary intent of ensuring stability. Operations such as intersections are used to compare position, orientation, and movement of the vehicle against position, orientation, and movement of objects in its environment. System tasks include, but are not limited to, kinematics, inverse kinematics, collision avoidance, and dynamics.

Control of vehicle movement by application of geometric algebra and state and error estimation

A system and method of describing and executing autonomous or autonomous device behaviors via a computer-implemented system incorporating a fuzzy language, a simulator, and one or more runtimes. The fuzzy language combines high level behaviors and produces a set of parameter descriptions. The parameter descriptions are behavior characteristics whose values are not yet necessarily known or selected. The parameter descriptions are used via simulation to find relevant parameters and acceptable parameter values that result or will result in the autonomous or semi-autonomous device behaving as desired.

System and method for describing and executing behaviors in autonomous and semi-autonomous devices

A method for obtaining a reflectance image from a plurality of thermal images utilizes a technique of A) obtaining a first thermal image of a subject, the first image containing both temperature and reflectance data; B) changing the environmental temperature of the scene, C) obtaining a second thermal image of the subject, the second image containing both temperature and reflectance data from the scene with said changed environmental temperature; and D) deriving a third image from the first and second images, that third image being essentially a reflectance image. In one embodiment, the third image is derived by subtracting the data in the first image from the data in the second image, or subtracting the data in the second image from the data in the first image. In another embodiment, either of the first or second images are processed along with the third image to produce a temperature image substantially devoid of reflectance information. A system for performing such techniques is also disclosed.

Method and apparatus for detection of concealed objects in passive thermal images using environment control

A system and technique for imaging a subject at a scene overcomes the weaknesses in the existing gain fluctuation techniques by switching the environmental temperature at the scene at a rate sufficiently fast enough to obtain subsequent samples in a time period where the gain has not fluctuated sufficiently to have a negative effect on detection sensitivity. This technique is utilized in conjunction with the method of subsequent subtraction of alternate samples which both reveals the reflectance of the scene and removes gain fluctuation.

Method and apparatus for efficient removal of gain fluctuation effects in passive thermal images

A method for creating visual telepresence for a large number of simultaneous users includes the step of simultaneously and continuously processing sets of images from a plurality of cameras to produce sets of short visual sequences that provide for virtual short movements in the environment. Additional steps include routing these many simultaneous repetitive short sequences to a plurality of user service processes. These short sequences are then composed into continuous video streams that provide convincing visual display of telepresence to many simultaneous users.

Efficient method for creating a visual telepresence for large numbers of simultaneous users

A method for creating a novel viewpoint image from a plurality of images includes the steps of simultaneously and continuously acquiring sets of images from a plurality of cameras. Predetermined background based correspondence fields are used to detect novel objects. Image representations are assigned for these objects likely new correspondences. These likely new correspondences are tested and further improved upon in a refinement step. The resulting correspondences are used to construct a novel viewpoint image.

Efficient method for creating a viewpoint from plurality of images

The video image of the end effector (26) and work surface (32) in the vicinity of the end effector is converted into a series of continually generated digitized images (132), which are further processed to detect and track the relative motion between the end effector and the work surface. After calibration (126), whereby an index of coordinates and arm orientation is established for a known positioning of the end effector relative to a known reference feature (28a) on the work surface, the tracking (168) of the motion of the end effector is utilized to continually update the index (104) to indicate the actual coordinate and orientation of the end effector relative to the work surface. The updated index is displayed on a live video monitor (44), and can be used as input to the feedback circuit (94) of the manipulator control system. In another embodiment of the invention, a high resolution monitor (52) displays an image of substantially the entire work surface, and particularly the features of interest, in the nature of a work surface map, and superimposes thereon a visual indication of the location, orientation and movement of the end effector, using the updated index information.

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Shutesbury, MA, United States of America

Thomas D Williams