Apple began their entry into robotics with their first-gen salvaging machine named Liam in 2016 followed by their second-gen robot named Daisy introduced in 2018. Apple won a patent for the Daisy robot in 2021.

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to their possible expansion into robotic systems. While Apple’s Project Titan envisions autonomous cars, we learn today that their latest patent-pending system could apply to future autonomous boats, aircraft, drones, space vehicles, buses, semi-trailer trucks and more.

Beyond the exotic, Apple’s robotic system could also apply to warehouse transport systems (forklifts+), to automated painting and welding systems and beyond. Whether Apple will work with partners on a number of initiatives and go it alone on others is unknown at this time.

Apple notes that advances in mobile machine automation are proceeding at a rapid pace as more companies become involved in development of automation solutions. Generally, mobile machine automation can require highly accurate sensing of the environment in which the mobile machine is operating (e.g., the path being followed by the mobile machine, other mobile machines, stationary objects, obstructions in the pathway, etc.).

The control mechanisms for the mobile machine are also required to be highly accurate and resistant to failure when components within the mobile machine fail, retaining control of the mobile machine and continuing operation or bringing the mobile machine to a stop.

Ideally, the mobile machine departs from a location and arrives at a destination location uneventfully, in some cases transporting payloads to a destination without any noticeable signs of unexpected events or behaviors.

To support this goal, high performance computer systems are often employed in the automation controller to sense the environment, plan a trajectory, and implement the trajectory by controlling the mobile machine. If a failure occurs, the automation controller can stop the mobile machine.

However, determining that a failure has occurred in the system is complex and difficult to implement. If the automation controller is too conservative and detects failure more often than failure actually occurs, it may exhibit unexpected behavior and payloads may be delayed or disrupted. On the other hand, if the automation controller is too aggressive and does not detect failure when failure actually occurs, the mobile machine may be unable to complete its mission.

In some embodiments, the computers #14 (illustrated in FIG. 1 below) receive a destination (e.g., from a user input device, a storage device, a network interface, etc.). In some embodiments, the automation system 10 is to direct a mobile machine using the actuators #18 from its current location to the destination. For example, global position system (GPS) or other geo-location data such as triangulation from cell towers or the like may be used to determine the current location, and map information may be used with various navigation algorithms to determine a route from the current location to the destination.

In an embodiment, current environmental conditions (e.g., traffic conditions, weather conditions, potential obstacles in the route, etc.) may be considered in determining the route as well, attempting to minimize travel time.

More generally, the automation system #10 may be configured, in some embodiments, to control the motion of the mobile machine through space. The mobile machine may be any machine capable of spatial movement, even if the space in which the machine is capable of moving is restricted.

For example, in some cases the mobile machine may be a robot that performs a task within a confined space. The robot may be fixed to the floor, but may have appendages (e.g., "arms") that automatically perform (under the control of the automation system) a defined task such as assembly, welding, painting, and the like.

In other cases, the robot may be fully mobile, and may be designed to move payloads from location to location in a warehouse, factory, or the like.

Further, robots may be configured to perform a task that includes motion (e.g., a vacuum cleaner that automatically vacuums a floor, in which the payload may be the refuse collected by the vacuum cleaner; an automated lawn mower that cuts a lawn; etc.).

Mobile machines may include any type of land, water, air, or space-based vehicles such as cars powered by internal combustion gasoline engines, diesel engines, hybrid engines, full electric engines, etc.

The mobile machine may include pickup trucks and larger trucks that transport goods (e.g., "semis"). The mobile machine may include buses and other mass transportation vehicles. The mobile machine may include motorcycles. Water-based mobile machines may include boats, ships, submarines, sailboats, etc. Air-based mobile machines may include aircraft (e.g., airplanes, drones, blimps, helicopters, etc.). Space-based vehicles may include rockets, capsules, satellites, space stations, etc.

Mobile machines may move along a pathway under control of the automation system. The pathway may be any permitted route from the current location to a destination, and may depend on the character of the mobile machine.

For example, the pathway may be a land-based pathway (e.g., a roadway, a sidewalk, a pathway defined within a building, a path that covers a prescribed area, etc.), a water-based pathway (e.g., a channel, shipping lanes, a riverbed, etc.), an airspace-based pathway (e.g., the direction of movement of a robotic arm, air travel routes, etc.), or space-based pathways (e.g., orbits, launch flight paths, etc.).

Pathways may include one or more paths in which the mobile machine may travel (e.g., the lanes of a roadway, multiple shipping lanes, parallel paths on a warehouse floor, flight paths in the air, orbital paths, etc.).

Apple’s patent FIG. 1 below is a block diagram of one embodiment of an automation controller; FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operation of one embodiment of an act portion of the automation controller shown in FIG. 1.

Apple’s patent FIG. 7 below is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of stop trajectories.

Apple’s patent FIG. 9 above is a block diagram illustrating exception stop sensing.

For more details, review Apple's patent application number 20220221868.

Mark Colosky: Engineering Manager. Colosky previously worked at Nexteer Automotive working on Electric Power Steering. He also worked at Delphi Steering Systems on Electric Power Systems and General Motors where he was supervisor for the Electrical System group.

Fernando Mujica: Senior Hardware Architect, Engineering Manager

Jamie Waydo: Was a Senior Director at Apple who came from Waymo working on autonomous vehicles and is now at a Startup called Cavnue working on autonomous vehicle systems.

Posted by Jack Purcher on July 15, 2022 at 07:33 AM in 1A. Patent Applications | Permalink | Comments (0)

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