US 9,174,342 B2Granted

Social behavior rules for a medical telepresence robot

AssigneesIntouch Technologies, Inc., iRobot Corporation

InventorsMarco Pinter, Fuji Lai, Daniel Steven Sanchez, James Ballantyne, David Bjorn Roe, Yulun Wang, Charles S. Jordan, Orjeta Taka, Cheuk Wah Wong

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Devices, systems, and methods for social behavior of a telepresence robot are disclosed herein. A telepresence robot may include a drive system, a control system, an object detection system, and a social behaviors component. The drive system is configured to move the telepresence robot. The control system is configured to control the drive system to drive the telepresence robot around a work area. The object detection system is configured to detect a human in proximity to the telepresence robot. The social behaviors component is configured to provide instructions to the control system to cause the telepresence robot to operate according to a first set of rules when a presence of one or more humans is not detected and operate according to a second set of rules when the presence of one or more humans is detected.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A telepresence robot comprising:

a drive system configured to move the telepresence robot;
a control system configured to control the drive system to drive the telepresence robot around a work area;
a status determination system configured to determine a current status for one or both of the telepresence robot and a human;
and
a social path component configured to provide instructions to the control system to cause the telepresence robot to maintain a socially acceptable distance from humans, the socially acceptable distance based on the current status,
wherein the status determination system is configured to determine that the current status of the robot comprises a presence of the human,
wherein the social path component maintains a socially acceptable distance from the human by avoiding a lockout zone surrounding the human,
wherein the status determination system comprises a human classification component configured to determine a classification of a human, and
wherein the social path component determines the lockout zone based on the classification of the human.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/550,743Filed 21 Nov 2014 · continuation
Priority: 22 May 2012
Published: US 2015/0088310 A126 Mar 2015
Granted: 3 Nov 2015
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification12 codes

B25J 9/1676
Characterised by safety, monitoring, diagnostic: avoiding collision or forbidden zones
G05D 1/0088
Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots: characterized by the…
G06Q 50/22
Services: social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
G16H 40/67
For the operation of medical equipment or devices: for remote operation

Family

Application61/650,205Us provisional application · filed 22 May 2012
Application61/674,794Us provisional application · filed 23 Jul 2012
Application61/674,796Us provisional application · filed 23 Jul 2012
Application61/674,782Us provisional application · filed 23 Jul 2012
Application61/766,623Us provisional application · filed 19 Feb 2013
PCT/US2013/031778Parent of this continuation · filed 14 Mar 2013
US 2015/0088310 A1Pre-grant publication · published 26 Mar 2015
US 9,174,342 B2This patent

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