Robot with articulable flap for moving granular material

A robot comprising:

• a body;
• a drive system coupled with the body;
• a memory;
• an articulable flap rotatably coupled with the body;
• an articulation mechanism coupled with the articulable flap and configured to rotate the articulable flap between a pushing orientation and a non-pushing orientation;
• and
• a processor coupled with the memory and configured to:
• control movement of the robot, via the drive system, to traverse about a surface of a piled granular material in a first direction relative to the body of the robot;
• rotatably articulate, via the articulation mechanism, the articulable flap to the non-pushing orientation during a portion of the first direction of travel of the robot;
• control movement of the robot, via the drive system, to traverse about the surface of a piled granular material in a second direction relative to the body of the robot, where the second direction is substantially opposite the first direction;
• and
• rotatably articulate, via the articulation mechanism, the articulable flap to the pushing orientation during a portion of the second direction of travel of the robot.

A robot comprising:

• a body;
• an auger-based drive system coupled with the body and comprising a plurality of augers;
• a memory;
• a processor coupled with the memory and configured to:
• control movement of the robot, via the augers of the auger-based drive system, to traverse about a surface of a piled granular material in a first direction relative to the body of the robot;
• and
• control movement of the robot, via the augers of the auger-based drive system, to traverse about the surface of a piled granular material in a second direction relative to the body of the robot, where the second direction is substantially opposite the first direction;
• a hinge comprising a lower stop;
• an articulable flap rotatably coupled with the body by the hinge, the articulable flap configured to:
• rotatably articulate to a non-pushing orientation during the first direction of travel of the robot;
• and
• rotatably articulate to a pushing orientation during the second direction of travel of the robot.

A method of piled granular material surface management via a robot with an articulable flap, the method comprising:

• controlling movement of the robot via augers of an auger-based drive system to traverse upslope on a sloped portion of a surface of a piled granular material in a first direction relative to a body of the robot, wherein the traversal of the sloped portion in the first direction incites a first sediment gravity flow in the sloped portion 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 rotation of the augers of the auger-based drive system, wherein the first sediment gravity flow reduces an angle of slope of the sloped portion;
• rotatably articulating, via an articulation mechanism, the articulable flap to a non-pushing orientation during a portion of the first direction of travel of the robot, wherein the articulation mechanism is coupled with the articulable flap and configured to rotate the articulable flap between a pushing orientation and a non-pushing orientation;
• controlling movement of the robot via augers of the auger-based drive system to traverse downslope on the sloped portion of the surface of the piled granular material in a second direction relative to the body of the robot, wherein the traversal of the sloped portion in the second direction incites a second sediment gravity flow in the sloped portion 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 rotation of the augers of the auger-based drive system, wherein the second sediment gravity flow further reduces the angle of slope of the sloped portion, and wherein the second direction is substantially opposite the first direction;
• and
• rotatably articulating, via the articulation mechanism, the articulable flap to a pushing orientation during a portion of the second direction of travel of the robot, such that a portion of the piled granular material in the sloped portion is pushed downslope on the sloped portion by the articulable flap while the robot is traversing in the second direction such that the angle of slope is reduced further still.