System and method for real time control of an autonomous device

Method of creating and managing occupancy grids comprising:

• transforming sensor measurements to a frame of reference associated with a device;
• creating a time-stamped measurement occupancy grid;
• publishing the time-stamped measurement occupancy grid as a local occupancy grid;
• creating a plurality of local occupancy grids;
• creating a static occupancy grid based on surface characteristics in a repository, the surface characteristics associated with a position of the device;
• moving a global occupancy grid associated with the position of the device to maintain the device and the local occupancy grid approximately centered with respect to the global occupancy grid;
• adding information from the static occupancy grid to the global occupancy grid;
• marking an area in the global occupancy grid currently occupied by the device as unoccupied;
• for each of at least one cell in each local occupancy grid,
• determining a location of the at least one cell in the global occupancy grid;
• accessing a first value at the location;
• determining a second value at the location based on a relationship between the first value and a cell value at the at least one cell in the local occupancy grid;
• comparing the second value against a pre-selected probability range;
• and
• setting the global occupancy grid with the new value if a probability value is within the pre-selected probability range.

System for creating and managing occupancy grids comprising:

• a plurality of local grid creation nodes configured for creating a local occupancy grid associated with a position of a device comprising a cell;
• a global occupancy grid manager configured for:
• accessing the local occupancy grid;
• creating in a repository a static occupancy grid based on surface characteristics associated with the position of the device,
• moving a global occupancy grid associated with the position of the device to maintain the device and a local occupancy grid approximately centered with respect to the global occupancy grid;
• adding information from the static occupancy grid to the global occupancy grid;
• marking an area in the global occupancy grid currently occupied by the device as unoccupied;
• for each cell in each local occupancy grid,
• determining a location of the cell in the global occupancy grid;
• accessing a first value at the location;
• determining a second value at the location based on a relationship between the first value and a cell value at the cell in the local occupancy grid;
• comparing the second value against a probability range;
• and
• setting the global occupancy grid with the new value if a probability value is within the probability range.

Method of updating a global occupancy grid comprising:

• if an autonomous device has moved to a new position, updating the global occupancy grid with information from a static grid associated with the new position;
• analyzing surfaces at the new position;
• if the surfaces are drivable, updating the surfaces and updating the global occupancy grid with the updated surfaces;
• and
• updating the global occupancy grid with values from a repository of static values, the static values being associated with the new position.

Method of real-time control of a configuration of a device, the device comprising a chassis, a plurality of wheels, a first side of the chassis operably coupled with one of the wheels, and an opposing second side of the chassis operably coupled with another one of the wheels, the method comprising:

• creating a map based at least on prior surface features and an occupancy grid, the map being created in non-real time, the map including a location associated with a surface feature associated with a surface classification and a mode;
• determining current surface features as the device travels;
• updating the occupancy grid in real-time with the current surface features;
• determining a path the device can travel to traverse the at least one surface feature.

Method of real-time control of a configuration of a device, the device including a chassis, a plurality of wheels, a first side of the chassis operably coupled with one of the wheels, and an opposing second side of the chassis operably coupled with another one the wheels, the method comprising:

• receiving environmental data;
• determining a surface type based at least on the environmental data;
• determining a mode based on the surface type and a first configuration;
• determining a second configuration based on the mode and the surface type;
• determining movement commands based on the second configuration;
• and
• controlling the configuration of the device by using the movement commands to change the device from the first configuration to the second configuration.

System for real-time control of a configuration of a device comprising:

• a device processor configured for:
• receiving real-time environmental data surrounding the device;
• determining a surface type based at least on the environmental data;
• determining a mode based on the surface type and a first configuration;
• and
• determining a second configuration based on the mode and the surface type;
• and
• a powerbase processor configured for:
• determining movement commands based on the second configuration;
• and
• controlling the configuration of the device with the movement commands to change the device from the first configuration to the second configuration.