US 12,474,171 B2
Path planning for mobile machine in large scale navigation
Huaguang Du, Pasadena, CA (US); Zhipeng Liu, Pasadena, CA (US); Fangyun Zhao, Pasadena, CA (US); Chengkun Zhang, Pasadena, CA (US); and Huan Tan, Pasadena, CA (US)
Assigned to FUTRONICS (NA) CORPORATION, Pasadena, CA (US); and UBTECH ROBOTICS CORP LTD, Shenzhen (CN)
Filed by Futronics (NA) Corporation, Pasadena, CA (US); and UBTECH ROBOTICS CORP LTD, Shenzhen (CN)
Filed on Jan. 9, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/407,494.
Prior Publication US 2025/0224235 A1, Jul. 10, 2025
Int. Cl. G01C 21/20 (2006.01); G01C 21/00 (2006.01)
CPC G01C 21/206 (2013.01) [G01C 21/38 (2020.08)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for planning a path between a start point and a goal point for a mobile machine, comprising:
determining, by a processor of the mobile machine, based on a current position of the mobile machine, the start point in the path;
determining, by the processor, a start map node among a plurality of map nodes in a map graph based on the start point in the path and a goal map node among the plurality of map nodes in the map graph based on the goal point in the path, wherein each of the map nodes corresponds to each of a plurality of submaps partitioned from a facility map;
determining, by the processor, whether the start map node and the goal map node correspond to the same submap;
planning, by the processor, the path between the start point and the goal point using a real-time path planning method, in response to the start map node and the goal map node corresponding to the same submap;
obtaining, by the processor, the path between the start point and the goal point by merging a node path between the start map node and the goal map node, a first real-time path between the start point and a first stop point connecting the adjacent submaps between the start point and the goal point, and a second real-time path between the goal point and a last stop point connecting the adjacent submaps between the goal point and the start point, in response to the start map node and the goal map node not corresponding to the same submap; and
controlling, by the processor, the mobile machine to move according to the path;
wherein obtaining, by the processor, the path between the start point and the goal point includes:
planning, by the processor using a graph search algorithm, the node path between the start map node and the goal map node; and
wherein obtaining, by the processor, the path between the start point and the goal point further includes:
planning, by the processor, based on a pre-planned path, the node path in each of the submaps except the submap corresponding to the start point and the submap corresponding to the goal point.