Obstacle detection and manipulation by a vehicle within a dig site

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for determining a route for an excavation vehicle (EV) between a start point and an end point in a site encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps comprising:

• detecting an obstacle between the start point and the end point using a sensor mounted to the EV, the start point and end point represented as coordinates in a coordinate space;
• executing, with a communicatively coupled computer, a set of instructions comprising:
• for the obstacle between the start point and the end point, generating a set of removal tool paths executable by the EV to remove the obstacle;
• generating an obstructed route between the start point and the end point that travels through the obstacle between the start point and the end point;
• generating an unobstructed route between the start point and the end point that circumvents the obstacle between the start point and the end point;
• evaluating, for the obstructed route, a cost function to determine a resource cost for the EV to navigate from the start point to the end point over a plurality of passes, and also including a secondary cost function for the EV to execute the set of removal tool paths;
• evaluating, for the unobstructed route, a cost function to determine a resource cost for the EV to navigate from the start point to the end point for the plurality of passes;
• selecting, from the obstructed route and the unobstructed route, the route with a lower resource cost;
• and
• navigating the EV along the selected route.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for determining a route for an excavation vehicle (EV) between a start point and an end point in a siteencoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps comprising:
• detecting an obstacle between the start point and the end point using a sensor mounted to the EV, the start point and end point represented as coordinates in a coordinate space;
• executing, with a communicatively coupled computer, a set of instructions comprising:
• for the obstacle between the start point and the end point, generating a set of removal tool paths executable by the EV to remove the obstacle;
• generating an obstructed route between the start point and the end point that travels through the obstacle between the start point and the end point;
• generating an unobstructed route between the start point and the end point that circumvents the obstacle between the start point and the end point;
• evaluating, for the obstructed route, a cost function to determine a resource cost for the EV to navigate from the start point to the end point over a plurality of passes, and also including a secondary cost function for the EV to execute the set of removal tool paths;
• evaluating, for the unobstructed route, a cost function to determine a resource cost for the EV to navigate from the start point to the end point for the plurality of passes;
• selecting, from the obstructed route and the unobstructed route, the route with a lower resource cost;
• and
• navigating the EV along the selected route.