EP-4741973-A1 - DYNAMIC VIRTUAL SAFETY BUBBLES FOR AUTONOMOUS MOWING VEHICLE

Abstract

An autonomous mowing vehicle leverages a plurality of virtual safety bubbles and a virtual buffer around an object to avoid collisions between the object and the vehicle. The vehicle has a camera system comprising stereoscopic pairs of cameras positioned around the vehicle, a mowing deck comprising one or more motorized blades for mowing plants in the environment, and a control system. The control system is configured to: capture image data from a camera system of an autonomous mowing vehicle; detect at least one object in an environment surrounding the autonomous mowing vehicle based on the image data; generate a virtual buffer for the object, the virtual buffer positioned around the object; generate a plurality of virtual safety bubbles around the autonomous mowing vehicle based on a configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle; and perform autonomous operation of the mowing vehicle to perform, via at least the mowing deck, one or more landscaping actions in the environment while evading breach of the plurality of virtual safety bubbles by the virtual buffer of the object.

Inventors

• ANDERSON, KENT MICHAEL
• POWERS, BRADLEY
• Lewis, Timothy J.
• DADGAR, Bijan
• SANDOVAL, Joel

Assignees

• Deere & Company

Dates

Publication Date

20260513

Application Date

20250912

Claims (15)

1. An autonomous mowing vehicle comprising: a camera system comprising a plurality of cameras positioned around the autonomous mowing vehicle; a mowing deck comprising one or more motorized blades for mowing plants in an environment; and a control system configured to: capture image data from a camera system of an autonomous mowing vehicle; detect an object in an environment surrounding the autonomous mowing vehicle based on the image data; generate a virtual buffer for the object, the virtual buffer positioned around the object; generate a plurality of virtual safety bubbles around the autonomous mowing vehicle based on a configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle; and perform, via at least the mowing deck, autonomous operation of the mowing vehicle to perform one or more landscaping actions in the environment while evading breach of the plurality of virtual safety bubbles by the virtual buffer of the object.
2. The autonomous mowing vehicle of claim 1, the control system further configured to: generate a spatial representation of the autonomous mowing vehicle based on the image data, wherein the spatial representation spatially describes the object in relation to the autonomous mowing vehicle.
3. The autonomous mowing vehicle of claim 2, the control system further configured to: applying one or more machine-learning models to classify an object type of a plurality of object types for the object based on the image data, wherein the virtual buffer for the object is based on the object type classified by the one or more machine-learning models.
4. The autonomous mowing vehicle of claim 3, wherein the plurality of object types includes persons and inanimate objects, wherein responsive to classifying the object as a person, generating the virtual buffer for the object having a first size, and wherein responsive to classifying the object as an inanimate object, generating the virtual buffer for the object having a second size smaller than the first size.
5. The autonomous mowing vehicle of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the control system being configured to generate the plurality of virtual safety bubbles based on the configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle comprises being configured to: generate an outer virtual safety bubble; and responsive to breach of the outer virtual safety bubble, trigger one or more warnings to distance the object from the autonomous mowing vehicle.
6. The autonomous mowing vehicle of claim 5, wherein the control system being configured to trigger one or more warnings comprises being configured to: the outer virtual safety bubble is configured to trigger, as the one or more warnings, an audio cue by a speaker or a visual cue by a light system.
7. The autonomous mowing vehicle of any one of claims 5-6, wherein the control system being configured to generate the plurality of virtual safety bubbles based on the configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle comprises being further configured to: responsive to breach of the outer virtual safety bubble, initiate a timer; and responsive to expiration of the timer, terminate autonomous operation of the autonomous mowing vehicle.
8. The autonomous mowing vehicle of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the control system being configured to generate the plurality of virtual safety bubbles based on the configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle comprises being configured to: generate an inner virtual safety bubble during actuation of the mowing deck of the autonomous mowing vehicle; and responsive to breach of the inner virtual safety bubble, terminate actuation of the mowing deck.
9. The autonomous mowing vehicle of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the control system being configured to perform autonomous operation of the mowing vehicle comprises being configured to: detect a potential breach by the virtual buffer of the plurality of virtual safety bubbles based on a trajectory of the autonomous mowing vehicle; responsive to detecting the potential breach, modify the configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle to evade the breach of the plurality of virtual safety bubbles; and modify the plurality of virtual safety bubbles around the autonomous mowing vehicle based on the modified configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle.
10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer processor to perform operations comprising: capturing image data from a camera system of an autonomous mowing vehicle; detecting at least one object in an environment surrounding the autonomous mowing vehicle based on the image data; generating a virtual buffer for the object, the virtual buffer positioned around the object; generating a plurality of virtual safety bubbles around the autonomous mowing vehicle based on a configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle; and performing autonomous operation of the mowing vehicle to perform one or more landscaping actions in the environment while evading breach of the plurality of virtual safety bubbles by the virtual buffer of the object.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein capturing the image data comprises capturing images from stereoscopic pairs of cameras positioned around the autonomous mowing vehicle to capture a 360-degree panoramic view of the environment surrounding the autonomous mowing vehicle.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 or claim 11, configured to provide the autonomous mowing vehicle of any of claims 2 to 9.
13. A computer-implemented method comprising: capturing image data from a camera system of an autonomous mowing vehicle; detecting at least one object in an environment surrounding the autonomous mowing vehicle based on the image data; generating a virtual buffer for the object, the virtual buffer positioned around the object; generating a plurality of virtual safety bubbles around the autonomous mowing vehicle based on a configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle; and performing autonomous operation of the mowing vehicle to perform one or more landscaping actions in the environment while evading breach of the plurality of virtual safety bubbles by the virtual buffer of the object.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein capturing the image data comprises capturing images from stereoscopic pairs of cameras positioned around the autonomous mowing vehicle to capture a 360-degree panoramic view of the environment surrounding the autonomous mowing vehicle.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 or claim 14, further comprising providing the autonomous mowing vehicle of any of claims 2 to 9.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/719,478 filed on November 12, 2024, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND This disclosure relates to operating a mowing vehicle in a landscaping environment, for performing one or more landscaping actions to maintain the landscaping environment. A mowing vehicle typically includes one or more blades situated below a mowing deck for mowing plants in a landscaping environment. The mowing vehicle typically includes a seat or a cab, where an operator can be seated when operating the mowing vehicle. A technical challenge arises when attempting to autonomously operate a mowing vehicle, as the vehicle's blades can pose a significant hazard to bystanders. Accordingly, there is a need for preventive measures to minimize the collision of the vehicle with various types of objects, whether persons or otherwise. SUMMARY A mowing vehicle traverses a landscaping environment and performs one or more actions in the landscaping environment. The actions may include movement of the mowing vehicle, landscaping actions to maintain the landscaping environment, or other actions to affect plants or soil in the landscaping environment. The mowing vehicle may be configured to switch between an autonomous operation, a manual operation, or some combination thereof. Autonomous operation may refer to performing one or more actions without human intervention. Manual operation may refer to performing one or more actions with human intervention. Hybrid operation may refer to one or more actions being performed autonomously and one or more actions being performed manually. According to a first aspect of the disclosure, there is provided an autonomous mowing vehicle comprising: a camera system comprising a plurality of cameras positioned around the autonomous mowing vehicle; a mowing deck comprising one or more motorized blades for mowing plants in an environment; and a control system configured to: capture image data from a camera system of an autonomous mowing vehicle; detect an object in an environment surrounding the autonomous mowing vehicle based on the image data; generate a virtual buffer for the object, the virtual buffer positioned around the object; generate a plurality of virtual safety bubbles around the autonomous mowing vehicle based on a configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle; and perform, via at least the mowing deck, autonomous operation of the mowing vehicle to perform one or more landscaping actions in the environment while evading breach of the plurality of virtual safety bubbles by the virtual buffer of the object. Preferably, the control system is further configured to: generate a spatial representation of the autonomous mowing vehicle based on the image data, wherein the spatial representation spatially describes the object in relation to the autonomous mowing vehicle. Preferably, the control system is further configured to: apply one or more machine-learning models to classify an object type of a plurality of object types for the object based on the image data, wherein the virtual buffer for the object is based on the object type classified by the one or more machine-learning models. Preferably, the plurality of object types includes persons and inanimate objects, wherein responsive to classifying the object as a person, generating the virtual buffer for the object having a first size, and wherein responsive to classifying the object as an inanimate object, generating the virtual buffer for the object having a second size smaller than the first size. Preferably, the control system is configured to generate the plurality of virtual safety bubbles based on the configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle comprises being configured to: generate an outer virtual safety bubble; and responsive to breach of the outer virtual safety bubble, trigger one or more warnings to distance the object from the autonomous mowing vehicle. Preferably, the control system is configured to trigger one or more warnings comprises being configured to: the outer virtual safety bubble is configured to trigger, as the one or more warnings, an audio cue by a speaker or a visual cue by a light system. Preferably, the control system is configured to generate the plurality of virtual safety bubbles based on the configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle comprises being further configured to: responsive to breach of the outer virtual safety bubble, initiate a timer; and responsive to expiration of the timer, terminate autonomous operation of the autonomous mowing vehicle. Preferably, the control system is configured to generate the plurality of virtual safety bubbles based on the configuration of the autonomous mowing vehicle comprises being configured to: generate an inner virtual safety bubble during actuation of the mowing deck of the autonomous mowing vehicle; and responsive to bre