US 11,774,247 B2
Intermediate waypoint generator
Gina Christine Fay, Lexington, MA (US); and Alfred Rizzi, Cambridge, MA (US)
Assigned to Boston Dynamics, Inc., Waltham, MA (US)
Filed by Boston Dynamics, Inc., Waltham, MA (US)
Filed on Feb. 1, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/649,620.
Application 17/649,620 is a continuation of application No. 16/569,885, filed on Sep. 13, 2019, granted, now 11,268,816.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/883,438, filed on Aug. 6, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0155078 A1, May 19, 2022
Int. Cl. G01C 21/20 (2006.01); G05D 1/00 (2006.01); G05D 1/02 (2020.01)
CPC G01C 21/20 (2013.01) [G05D 1/0088 (2013.01); G05D 1/0214 (2013.01); G05D 2201/0217 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method when executed by data processing hardware of a robot causes the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
receiving image data of an environment of the robot from an image sensor;
receiving a body obstacle map comprising a map of obstacles that a body of the robot cannot traverse;
generating a sparse graph based on the body obstacle map, the sparse graph comprising a set of nodes and edges that begin at a starting location and end at a destination, the nodes and edges representative of paths the robot may travel in the environment;
planning a coarse path from the starting location to the destination;
determining a point along the coarse path between a first node of the set of nodes and a second node of the set of nodes where line of sight by the image sensor is lost;
generating an intermediate waypoint at the point along the coarse path where line of sight by the image sensor is lost; and
navigating the robot from the starting location along the coarse path and the intermediate waypoint toward the destination.