US 11,861,276 B2Granted

Locating a center point of a lug nut for an automated vehicle wheel removal system

AssigneeRoboTire, Inc.

InventorsBradley Vargo, Keegan Elliott, William Mapes, Scott Coburn, Riyadir Alalami, Anoopkumar Sandip Sonar

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Abstract

Described is a system (and method) for locating a center point of a lug nut for an automated vehicle wheel removal system. To improve the accuracy of the center point, the system may perform machine learning inferences using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) image data. The system may process a 2D image to infer an initial center point, and potentially improve the accuracy by leveraging a 3D image. More particularly, the system may process a 3D image to infer a location of one or more edges (or edge points) around the perimeter of the lug nut and measure a set of distances between the initial center point and the located set of edges. The system may then refine (or adjust) the center point based on such measurements.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A system for locating a center of a lug nut comprising:

one or more processors;
and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain a two-dimensional image of a vehicle wheel, the vehicle wheel including a set of lug nuts;
determine an initial center point of at least a first lug nut by processing the two-dimensional image using a first machine learning model;
obtain a three-dimensional image of at least a portion of the vehicle wheel including the first lug nut;
locate a set of edges at various points around a perimeter of the first lug nut by processing the three-dimensional image using a second machine learning model;
determine a set of distances between a point within the three-dimensional image that corresponds to the initial center point and the located set of edges;
update the initial center point of the first lug nut based on the determined set of distances;
and
map a set of two-dimensional coordinates representing the initial center point to a set of three-dimensional coordinates representing the point within the three-dimensional image that corresponds to the initial center point.

8 more elements

A computer-implemented method for locating a center of a lug nut comprising:

obtaining a two-dimensional image of a vehicle wheel, the vehicle wheel including a set of lug nuts;
determining an initial center point of at least a first lug nut by processing the two-dimensional image using a first machine learning model;
obtaining a three-dimensional image of at least a portion of the vehicle wheel including the first lug nut;
locating a set of edges at various points around a perimeter of the first lug nut by processing the three-dimensional image using a second machine learning model;
determining a set of distances between a point within the three-dimensional image that corresponds to the initial center point and the located set of edges;
updating the initial center point of the first lug nut based on the determined set of distances;
and
mapping a set of two-dimensional coordinates representing the initial center point to a set of three-dimensional coordinates representing the point within the three-dimensional image that corresponds to the initial center point.

5 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a two-dimensional image of a vehicle wheel, the vehicle wheel including a set of lug nuts;
determining an initial center point of at least a first lug nut by processing the two-dimensional image using a first machine learning model;
obtaining a three-dimensional image of at least a portion of the vehicle wheel including the first lug nut;
locating a set of edges at various points around a perimeter of the first lug nut by processing the three-dimensional image using a second machine learning model;
determining a set of distances between a point within the three-dimensional image that corresponds to the initial center point and the located set of edges;
and
updating the initial center point of the first lug nut based on the determined set of distances and
mapping a set of two-dimensional coordinates representing the initial center point to a set of three-dimensional coordinates representing the point within the three-dimensional image that corresponds to the initial center point.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/975,910Filed 28 Oct 2022 · us provisional application
Priority: 28 Oct 2021
Published: US 2023/0137789 A14 May 2023
Granted: 2 Jan 2024
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification12 codes

B25J 9/1687
Characterised by the tasks executed: assembly, peg and hole, palletising, straight line, weaving pattern movement
G06F 30/27
Design optimisation, verification or simulation: using machine learning, e.g. artificial intelligence, neural networks, support vector machines…
B60B 7/068
Characterised by the part of the wheels to which the discs, rings or the like are mounted: to the wheel bolts or wheel nuts
G05B 15/02
Systems controlled by a computer: electric

Family

Application63/273,145Us provisional application · filed 28 Oct 2021
US 2023/0137789 A1Pre-grant publication · published 4 May 2023
US 11,861,276 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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