US 12,330,720 B1
Rear trailer hostler
Alberto Daniel Lacaze, Potomac, MD (US); Karl Nicholas Murphy, Cocoa Beach, FL (US); Eric Meyer, Catonsville, MD (US); and Rashmi Patel, North Bethesda, MD (US)
Assigned to Robotic Research OpCo, LLC, Clarksburg, MD (US)
Filed by Robotic Research OpCo, LLC, Clarksburg, MD (US)
Filed on Oct. 28, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/513,576.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/106,714, filed on Oct. 28, 2020.
Int. Cl. B62D 53/08 (2006.01); B62D 53/12 (2006.01)
CPC B62D 53/0864 (2013.01) [B62D 53/0878 (2013.01); B62D 53/0885 (2013.01); B62D 53/0892 (2013.01); B62D 53/12 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for moving a parked trailer, the system comprising:
one or more rear trailer hostlers, each rear trailer hostler comprising:
a vehicle chassis having a plurality of wheels and a propulsion unit constructed to drive the plurality of wheels;
a trailer lift unit disposed on the vehicle chassis;
one or more sensors configured to detect the trailer, characteristics of the trailer, or features in an environment surrounding the trailer;
a platform constructed to be positioned adjacent to a rear of a trailer;
one or more actuators coupled to the platform so as to control a height at a front end of the platform adjacent to the trailer, a height at a rear end of the platform opposite the front end, or heights at both the front and rear ends; and
a control system operatively coupled to the vehicle chassis, the trailer lift unit, and the one or more sensors, the control system comprising one or more processors and at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
position, via the propulsion unit, the vehicle chassis underneath the trailer at a first location;
actuate the trailer lift unit so as to raise the trailer from an initial height where locked wheels of the trailer contact a ground to a second height where the locked wheels are held off the ground;
maintain, via the trailer lift unit, the locked wheels off the ground as the vehicle chassis and the trailer thereon moves from the first location to a second location;
detect, via the one or more sensors, a height of a cargo bed of the trailer, a height of a floor at the second location, or both; and
control, via the one or more actuators, height of the front end based on the height of the cargo bed, the height of the rear end based on the height of the floor, or both.