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US 10,520,943 B2Granted
Unmanned aerial image capture platform
AssigneeSkydio, Inc.
InventorsHayk Martirosyan, Adam Bry, Matthew Donahoe, Abraham Bacharach, Justin Michael Sadowski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems are disclosed for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configured to autonomously navigate a physical environment while capturing images of the physical environment. In some embodiments, the motion of the UAV and a subject in the physical environment may be estimated based in part on images of the physical environment captured by the UAV. In response to estimating the motions, image capture by the UAV may be dynamically adjusted to satisfy a specified criterion related to a quality of the image capture.
Claims22
A method comprising:
- estimating a motion of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in autonomous flight through a physical environment based in part on images captured by an image capture device associated with the UAV;
- estimating a motion of a subject in the physical environment based in part on the images captured by the image capture device associated with the UAV;
- generating and continually updating a three-dimensional (3D) map of the physical environment while the UAV is in autonomous flight, the 3D map generated based in part on the images captured by the image capture device associated with the UAV;
- defining, within the 3D map, a virtual line between a virtual representation of an estimated position of the subject and a virtual representation of an estimated position of the UAV;
- and
- in response to estimating the motions of the UAV and the subject, generating control commands to dynamically adjust image capture of the subject by the image capture device associated with the UAV to satisfy a specified criterion related to a quality of the image capture;
- wherein to satisfy the specified criterion the control commands to dynamically adjust image capture are configured such that, at a given time, the virtual line does not intersect a virtual representation of another physical object.
4 more elements
A system comprising:
- a processing unit;
- and
- a memory unit, the memory unit having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the system to:
- estimate a motion of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in autonomous flight through a physical environment based in part on images captured by an image capture device associated with the UAV;
- estimate a motion of a subject in the physical environment based in part on the images captured by the image capture device associated with the UAV;
- generate and continually update a three-dimensional (3D) map of the physical environment while the UAV is in autonomous flight, the 3D map generated based in part on the images captured by the image capture device associated with the UAV;
- define, within the 3D map, a virtual line between a virtual representation of an estimated position of the subject and a virtual representation of an estimated position of the UAV;
- and
- in response to estimating the motions of the UAV and the subject, generate control commands to dynamically adjust image capture of the subject by the image capture device associated with the UAV to satisfy a specified criterion related to a quality of the image capture;
- wherein to satisfy the specified criterion the control commands to dynamically adjust image capture are configured such that, at a given time, the virtual line does not intersect a virtual representation of another physical object.
7 more elements
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
- an array of image capture devices configured to capture images of a physical environment surrounding the UAV, while in flight;
- a gimbaled image capture device configured to capture images of a subject in the physical environment;
- a processing unit communicatively coupled to the array of image capture devices and the gimbaled image capture device;
- and
- a memory unit having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to:
- estimate a motion of the UAV while in autonomous flight through the physical environment based in part on the-images captured by the array of image capture devices;
- estimate a motion of the subject in the physical environment based in part on the images captured by the array of image capture devices;
- generate and continually update a three-dimensional (3D) map of the physical environment while the UAV is in autonomous flight, the 3D map generated based in part on the images captured by the array of image capture devices;
- define, within the 3D map, a virtual line between a virtual representation of an estimated position of the subject and a virtual representation of an estimated position of the UAV;
- and
- in response to estimating the motions of the UAV and the subject, generate control commands to dynamically adjust image capture of the subject by the gimbaled image capture device to satisfy a specified criterion related to a quality of the image capture;
- wherein to satisfy the specified criterion the control commands to dynamically adjust image capture are configured such that, at a given time, the virtual line does not intersect a virtual representation of another physical object.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.