# US 12,761,667 B2 · Parking robot safety device and method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,761,667 B2 - Document ID: US12761667B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/967,213 - Filed: 2024-12-03 - Published: 2026-01-08 - Granted: 2026-10-13 - Earliest claimed: 2024-07-08 - Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company; Kia Corporation; Sungshin Women's University R&Db Foundation - Applicants: Hyundai Motor Company; Kia Corporation; Sungshin Women's University R&Db Foundation - Inventors: Won Hee Kim; Soomin Shim; Jaehoon You; Hyo Jin Song; Yujin Song; Namgyo Kim; Sihyeon Park; Seong Wook Hwang; Joon Young Kim; Jeong Min Oh - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12761667B2 ## CPC - G05D 1/633: Dynamic obstacles - E04H 6/424: {Positioning devices} - G01S 13/931: of land vehicles - G01S 17/931: of land vehicles - G05D 2101/10: using artificial intelligence [AI] techniques - G05D 2101/22: {using off-board distributed computer resources for performing calculations, e.g. cloud-based} - G05D 2111/17: {Coherent light, e.g. laser signals} - G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES - E04H: BUILDINGS OR LIKE STRUCTURES FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSES; SWIMMING OR SPLASH BATHS OR POOLS; MASTS; FENCING; TENTS OR CANOPIES, IN GENERAL (foundations E02D) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES ## Abstract A system may include a parking robot configured to provide an unmanned parking service by moving one or more vehicles within a designated work area, a boundary sensor disposed in a boundary area separating the designated work area from an external area and configured to detect an entry of an entity from the external area into the designated work area or an exit of the entity from the designated work area to the external area, a monitoring sensor disposed in the designated work area and configured to monitor the entity in the designated work area, and one or more processors. The one or more processors may be configured to: determine, via the monitoring sensor, an operation characteristic and a type of the entity, and control, based on a status of the parking robot and the type and the operation characteristic of the entity, an operation of the parking robot. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system comprising: a parking robot configured to provide an unmanned parking service by moving one or more vehicles within a designated work area; a boundary sensor disposed in a boundary area separating the designated work area from an external area, wherein the boundary sensor is configured to detect an entry of an entity from the external area into the designated work area or an exit of the entity from the designated work area to the external area; a monitoring sensor disposed in the designated work area and configured to monitor the entity in the designated work area; and one or more processors communicatively coupled, via a network, to the parking robot, the boundary sensor, and the monitoring sensor, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: determine, via at least one of the boundary sensor or the monitoring sensor, entry of the entity into a staging area that is within the designated work area and is adjacent to the boundary area; determine, via the monitoring sensor and based on the entry of the entity into the staging area, an operation characteristic of the entity, wherein the operation characteristic comprises at least one of: a speed of the entity, a size of the entity, or a moving pattern of the entity; based on the operation characteristic of the entity, a position of the parking robot, and a moving path of the parking robot, determine a risk level indicating a likelihood of collision, within the designated work area, between the parking robot and the entity; and control, based on the risk level, an operation of the parking robot to avoid the parking robot and the entity from being located simultaneously in the staging area. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the boundary sensor comprises a safety light curtain. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the staging area that is located between the boundary area and a parking area, wherein the parking area is not adjacent to the boundary area, and wherein the boundary sensor is configured to: detect the entity entering or exiting the staging area; and send, via the network, a notification indicating the entity entering or exiting the staging area. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring sensor comprises: a plurality of sensors disposed in the designated work area; and a computer vision-based artificial intelligence model configured to extract, from data received from the plurality of sensors, information associated with safety measures for the parking robot. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The system of claim 4, wherein the computer vision-based artificial intelligence model is further configured to: determine a type of the entity by categorizing the entity as one of a person, a vehicle, a robot, or a miscellaneous object; and determine the operation characteristic based on the type of the entity. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the operation characteristic further comprises a collision radius, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the risk level by: determining the risk level based on the collision radius. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein: the monitoring sensor comprises at least one of: a red-green-blue (RGB) camera, a thermal imaging camera, a lidar, or a radar. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to control the operation of the parking robot by: controlling, based on the risk level being greater than a threshold value, the operation of the parking robot to stop or avoid the parking robot. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are configured to control the operation of the parking robot by, based on the entity being a first vehicle, one of: controlling, based on the entity being in the staging area, the operation of the parking robot to keep at least a predetermined distance away from the staging area and execute a work assigned to the parking robot; or controlling, based on the entity being outside the staging area, the operation of the parking robot to unload a second vehicle that is loaded on the parking robot and move the second vehicle to a waiting area outside the staging area. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the parking robot is configured to load or unload one or more vehicles within the staging area. ### Claim 11 A method performed by an apparatus, the method comprising: detecting, via a boundary sensor, an entry of an entity, across a boundary area, into a staging area that is adjacent to the boundary area and is within a designated work area, in which a robot is operating, wherein one or more vehicles are moved based on a moving path of the robot within the designated work area; determining, via a monitoring sensor and based on the entry of the entity into the staging area, an operation characteristic of the entity in the designated work area, wherein the operation characteristic comprises at least one of: a speed of the entity, a size of the entity, or a moving pattern of the entity; based on the operation characteristic of the entity, a position of the robot, and a moving path of the robot, determining a risk level indicating a likelihood of collision, within the designated work area, between the robot and the entity; and controlling, based on the risk level, an operation of the robot to avoid the robot and the entity from being located simultaneously in the staging area. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the staging area is located between the boundary area and a parking area, and wherein the boundary sensor is disposed in the boundary area and configured to send, via a network, a notification indicating the entity entering the staging area. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the determining of the operation characteristic of the entity comprises: monitoring, via the monitoring sensor, the designated work area, wherein the monitoring sensor comprises at least one of red-green-blue (RGB) camera, a thermal imaging camera, a lidar, or a radar; and determining, based on applying a computer vision-based artificial intelligence model to data input received from the monitoring sensor, the operation characteristic of the entity. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: determining the position of the robot and the moving path of the robot, wherein the operation characteristic further comprises at least one of a type of the entity or a distance of the entity to the robot. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the controlling of the operation of the robot comprises, based on the entity being a person, one of: controlling, based on a distance between the entity and the robot being less than a threshold distance, the operation of the robot to stop within a threshold time; or controlling, based on the distance being greater than the threshold distance, the operation of the robot to stop at a time that the entity is estimated, based on the operation characteristic of the entity, to be within the threshold distance away from the robot. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the determining of the risk level comprises: determining, based on the entity being not detected in a specific area within the designated work area, whether the robot is transporting a vehicle, and wherein the specific area is adjacent to the boundary area. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the controlling of the operation of the robot comprises one of: controlling, based on the robot transporting the vehicle, the operation of the robot to stop; or controlling, based on the robot not transporting the vehicle, the operation of the robot to move to a waiting area. ### Claim 18 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the operation characteristic further comprises a collision radius, and wherein the determining of the risk level is based on the collision radius. ### Claim 19 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the controlling of the operation of the robot further comprises, based on the entity being a first vehicle and the entity being detected in a specific area, one of: controlling, based on the entity being in the specific area, the operation of the robot to keep at least a predetermined distance away from the specific area and execute a work assigned to the robot; or controlling, based on the entity being outside the specific area, the operation of the robot to unload a second vehicle that is loaded on the robot and move the second vehicle to a waiting area outside the specific area. ### Claim 20 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the staging area is located between a parking area and an external area, and wherein the robot is configured to load or unload one or more vehicles in the staging area.