US 11,815,631 B1
Method and apparatus for improving range finding system readings
Ali Ebrahimi Afrouzi, Henderson, NV (US); Chen Zhang, Redmond, WA (US); and Sebastian Schweigert, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to AI Incorporated, Toronto (CA)
Filed by Ali Ebrahimi Afrouzi, Henderson, NV (US); Chen Zhang, Redmond, WA (US); and Sebastian Schweigert, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 4, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/712,691.
Application 17/712,691 is a continuation of application No. 16/880,644, filed on May 21, 2020, granted, now 11,320,523.
Application 16/880,644 is a continuation of application No. 15/683,255, filed on Aug. 22, 2017, granted, now 10,690,757.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/379,403, filed on Aug. 25, 2016.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01S 7/497 (2006.01); G01S 17/08 (2006.01)
CPC G01S 7/497 (2013.01) [G01S 17/08 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A robot, comprising:
a chassis;
a set of wheels coupled to the chassis;
at least one motor for driving the set of wheels;
at least one motor controller;
a range finding system coupled to the robot;
a plurality of sensors;
a processor; and
a tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by the processor effectuates operations comprising:
obtaining, with the processor, distances to obstacles measured by the range finding system as the robot moves relative to the obstacles;
monitoring, with the processor, the distance measurements;
identifying, with the processor, outlier distance measurements in otherwise steadily fitting distance measurements;
determining, with the processor, a depth of an obstacle based on the distance measurements; and
determining, with the processor, a position of the obstacle based on the distance measurements, comprising:
identifying, with the processor, positions of the range finding system when encountering the obstacle; and
determining, with the processor, the position of the obstacle based on the positions of the range finding system when encountering the obstacle.