Surface management of piled granular material
AssigneeGrain Weevil Corporation
InventorsBenjamin H. Johnson, Chad E. Johnson, Zane Zents
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Abstract
A piled grain surface management robot comprises an auger-based drive system, a memory, and a processor coupled with the memory. The processor is configured to control movement of the robot via the auger-based drive system. The processor is also configured to direct a traversal of a surface of piled grain in a bulk store, wherein a crust layer of the surface is broken up by auger rotation of the auger-based drive system during the traversal.
Claims28
A piled granular material surface management robot, the robot comprising:
- an auger-based drive system comprising bilateral augers;
- a memory;
- and
- a processor coupled with the memory and configured to:
- control movement of the robot via the bilateral augers of the auger-based drive system;
- and
- direct a traversal, by the robot, about a surface of a piled granular material in a bulk store, wherein a crust layer of the surface is broken up by auger rotation of the bilateral augers of the auger-based drive system during the traversal.
A method of piled granular material surface management, the method comprising:
- receiving at a robot, instructions to traverse a surface of a piled granular material in a bulk store;
- controlling, by a processor according to the instructions, movement of the robot via bilateral augers of an auger-based drive system to traverse about the surface of the piled granular material in the bulk store, wherein a crust layer of the surface is broken up by auger rotation of the bilateral augers of the auger-based drive system during the traversal;
- and
- directing, by the processor according to the instructions, traversal by the robot of a sloped portion of the piled granular material to incite sediment gravity flow in the sloped portion of the piled granular material by disruption of viscosity of the sloped portion of the piled granular material through agitation of the sloped portion of the piled granular material by the auger rotation of the auger-based drive system, wherein the sediment gravity flow reduces a slope of the sloped portion.
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions embodied thereon which, when executed, cause a processor to perform a method of piled granular material surface management, the method comprising:
- receiving at a robot, instructions to traverse a surface of a piled granular material in a bulk store;
- controlling, by a processor according to the instructions, movement of the robot via bilateral augers of an auger-based drive system to traverse about the surface of the piled granular material in the bulk store, wherein a crust layer of the surface is broken up by auger rotation of the bilateral augers of the auger-based drive system during the traversal;
- and
- directing, by the processor according to the instructions, traversal by the robot of a sloped portion of the piled granular material to incite sediment gravity flow in the sloped portion of the piled granular material by disruption of viscosity of the sloped portion of the piled granular material through agitation of the sloped portion of the piled granular material by the auger rotation of the auger-based drive system, wherein the sediment gravity flow reduces a slope of the sloped portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.