US 12,282,343 B1
Docking orientation device
John Stern Alexander, Hampstead, NC (US); Scott E. Schneider, Rolesville, NC (US); Richard Wayne France, Schaumburg, IL (US); and Neil Delima, Scarborough (CA)
Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed by International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed on Jan. 2, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/402,022.
Int. Cl. G05D 1/661 (2024.01); G05D 1/243 (2024.01); G05D 1/244 (2024.01); G05D 111/10 (2024.01)
CPC G05D 1/661 (2024.01) [G05D 1/243 (2024.01); G05D 1/244 (2024.01); G05D 2111/10 (2024.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for autonomously aligning docking bodies, the computer-implemented method comprising:
identifying, by a navigation system of a first body, a first-axis surface of three optically distinct axes surfaces of a docking orientation device that is a target axis surface corresponding to a desired docking approach vector of the first body to a second body;
maneuvering, by the navigation system, the first body to align with the docking orientation device relative to a second-axis surface of the three optically distinct axes surfaces until a third-axis surface of the three optically distinct axes surfaces is less than a defined surface detection threshold level;
continuing, by the navigation system, the maneuvering of the first body to align with the docking orientation device relative to the third-axis surface of the three optically distinct axes surfaces until the second-axis surface of the three optically distinct axes surfaces is less than the defined surface detection threshold level; and
completing, by the navigation system, docking between the first body and the second body in accordance with the desired docking approach vector based on alignment of the first body with the target axis surface of the docking orientation device, the docking orientation device has a three-dimensional geometric shape that includes three mutually orthogonal surfaces, each respective surface of the three mutually orthogonal surfaces is optically distinct from each other.