US-12619230-B2 - Two level mission planning for autonomous platforms and payloads

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for operating automated vehicles to accomplish an agricultural mission according to a hierarchically computed mission plan, comprising receiving a plurality of mission parameters defining an agricultural related mission, computing a generic plan for executing the mission by one or more of a plurality of vehicle classes grouping automated vehicles sharing common vehicle parameters coupled with one or more of a plurality of payload classes grouping payloads sharing common payload parameters, computing a plurality of specific plans for executing the mission by one or more automated vehicles of the selected vehicle class(s) coupled with one or more payloads of the selected payload class(s), selecting one of the plurality of specific plans which reduces one or more mission attributes of the mission and outputting instructions for operating the selected automated vehicle(s) and the selected payload(s) to execute the mission according to the selected specific plan.

Inventors

• Aviram Shmueli
• Alon Ascher
• Ben Alfi
• Shmuel Ur

Assignees

• Blue White Robotics Ltd

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20210721

Claims (17)

1. 1 . A method of operating automated vehicles to accomplish an agricultural mission according to a hierarchically computed mission plan, comprising: by at least one processor of a mission planning system: receiving a plurality of mission parameters defining an agricultural related mission; computing in a hierarchical process a mission plan, by: in a first phase of the hierarchical process: selecting at least one of a plurality of vehicle classes and at least one of a plurality of payload classes, based on a respective common vehicle and payload parameters with respect to the mission parameters, wherein each of the plurality of vehicle classes comprising automated vehicles sharing common vehicle parameters, and wherein each of the plurality of payload classes comprising payloads sharing common payload parameters; computing a generic plan for executing the mission by the selected of the at least one of a plurality of vehicle classes coupled with the selected of the at least one of a plurality of payload classes, wherein said generic plan comprises high-level instructions which do not specify any specific automated vehicles or payloads; defining a plurality of combinations, each of the plurality of combinations comprises one automated vehicle of the at least one selected vehicle class and one payload of the at least one selected payload class; in a second phase of the hierarchical process: computing a plurality of specific plans for executing the mission, each of said plurality of specific plans is computed for a combination from the plurality of combinations, wherein each of said plurality of specific plans comprises low-level instructions such that each specific plan of the plurality of specific plans is computed by converting said generic plan into instructions decodable by a specific automated vehicle coupled to a specific payload of a respective combination; and selecting one of the plurality of specific plans which reduces at least one mission attribute of the mission; and issuing a command signal to the at least one selected automated vehicle and to the at least one selected payload through an I/O communication interface of said mission planning system, to automatically control the at least one selected automated vehicle and the at least one selected payload, to at least one of: to move along a route to a geographical area defined for the mission, to move in a movement pattern through the geographical area and to move in a defined speed and/or altitude within the geographical area, and to execute the mission according to the selected specific plan by executing the respective low-level instructions.
2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of mission parameters defines at least one member of a group consisting of: a type of each operation of the mission, a timing of the mission, a duration of the mission, a cost of the mission, at least one mission constraint, at least one mission key performance parameter (KPP), a size of the geographical area defined for the mission, a location of the certain geographical area, a type of the certain geographical area, at least one feature of the certain geographical area and an outcome of the mission.
3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the automated vehicles is a member of a group consisting of: a ground vehicle, an aerial vehicle and a naval vehicle.
4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the automated vehicles is a member of a group consisting of: a remotely controlled vehicle, an at least partially automated vehicle and an autonomous vehicle.
5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the payloads is configured to be used for at least one operation of a group consisting of: a data gathering operation, a spraying operation, a picking operation, a placing operation and a transfer operation.
6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of vehicle parameters is a member of group consisting of: type, availability, current location, speed, range, maximal altitude, minimal altitude, communication range, load capacity, physical dimension, energy related operation time expectancy, cost of operation and indication of each of the plurality of payloads attachable to the respective automated vehicle.
7. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of payload parameters is a member of a group consisting of: type, operation capability, availability, current location, energy related operation time expectancy, cost of operation, resolution, field of view (FOV), zoom, coverage rate, coverage ratio, load capacity, physical dimension and indication of each of the plurality of automated vehicles configured to carry the respective payload.
8. 8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one mission attribute comprises a minimal cost of operation of the at least one automated vehicle and the at least one payload selected for each of the plurality of specific plans.
9. 9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one mission attribute comprises an earliest completion time of the mission by the at least one automated vehicle and the at least one payload selected for each of the plurality of specific plans.
10. 10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one mission attribute comprises a minimal duration time for completing the mission by the at least one automated vehicle and the at least one payload selected for each of the plurality of specific plans.
11. 11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one mission attribute comprises a minimal number of the at least one automated vehicle and the at least one payload selected for each of the plurality of specific plans.
12. 12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising mapping at least one added automated vehicle to a respective one of the plurality of vehicle classes according to the common vehicle parameters defining the respective vehicle class which are shared by the at least one added automated vehicle.
13. 13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising creating at least one new translator configured to convert the instructions generated for at least one specific plan to low level instructions decodable by the at least one added automated vehicle.
14. 14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising mapping at least one added payload to a respective one of the plurality of payload classes according to the common payload parameters defining the respective payload class which are shared by the at least one added payload.
15. 15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising creating at least one new translator configured to convert the instructions generated for at least one specific plan to low level instructions decodable by the at least one added payload.
16. 16 . A system for operating automated vehicles to accomplish an agricultural mission according to a hierarchically computed mission plan, comprising: at least one processor of a mission planning system, configured to execute a code, the code comprising: code instructions to receive a plurality of mission parameters defining an agricultural related mission; code instructions to compute in a two phases hierarchical process a mission plan, by: in a first phase: selecting at least one of a plurality of vehicle classes and at least one of a plurality of payload classes, based on a respective common vehicle and payload parameters with respect to the mission parameters, wherein each of the plurality of vehicle classes comprising automated vehicles sharing common vehicle parameters, and wherein each of the plurality of payload classes comprising payloads sharing common payload parameters; computing a generic plan for executing the mission by the selected of the at least one of a plurality of vehicle classes coupled with the selected of the at least one of a plurality of payload classes, wherein said generic plan comprises high-level instructions which do not specify any specific automated vehicles or payloads; defining a plurality of combinations, each of the plurality of combinations comprises one automated vehicle of the at least one selected vehicle class and one payload of the at least one selected payload class; in a second phase: computing a plurality of specific plans for executing the mission, each of said plurality of specific plans is computed for a combination from the plurality of combinations, wherein said plurality of specific plans comprise low-level instructions such that each specific plan of the plurality of specific plans is computed by converting said generic plan into instructions decodable by a specific automated vehicle coupled to a specific payload of a respective combination; and selecting one of the plurality of specific plans which reduces at least one mission attribute of the mission in a cost effective way; and code instructions to issue a command signal to the at least one selected automated vehicle and to the at least one selected payload through an I/O communication interface of said mission planning system, to automatically control the at least one selected automated vehicle and the at least one selected payload, to at least one of: to move along a route to a geographical area defined for the mission, to move in a movement pattern through the geographical area and to move in a defined speed and/or altitude within the geographical area, and to execute the mission according to the selected specific plan by executing the respective low-level instructions.
17. 17 . A computer program product for operating automated vehicles to accomplish an agricultural mission according to a hierarchically computed mission plan, comprising: at least one computer readable non-transitory storage media having thereon: first program instructions executable by at least one processor of a mission planning system, to cause the at least one processor to receive a plurality of mission parameters defining an agricultural related mission; second program instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to compute in a two phases hierarchical process a mission plan, by: in a first phase: selecting at least one of a plurality of vehicle classes and at least one of a plurality of payload classes, based on a respective common vehicle and payload parameters with respect to the mission parameters, wherein each of the plurality of vehicle classes comprising automated vehicles sharing common vehicle parameters, and wherein each of the plurality of payload classes comprising payloads sharing common payload parameters; computing a generic plan for executing the mission by the selected of the at least one of a plurality of vehicle classes coupled with the selected of the at least one of a plurality of payload classes, wherein said generic plan comprises high-level instructions which do not specify any specific automated vehicles or payloads; defining a plurality of combinations, each of the plurality of combinations comprises one automated vehicle of the at least one selected vehicle class and one payload of the at least one selected payload class; in a second phase: computing a plurality of specific plans for executing the mission, each of said plurality of specific plans is computed for a combination from the plurality of combinations, wherein said plurality of specific plans comprise low-level instructions such that each specific plan of the plurality of specific plans is computed by converting said generic plan into instructions decodable by a specific automated vehicle coupled to a specific payload of a respective combination; and selecting one of the plurality of specific plans which reduces at least one mission attribute of the mission; and third program instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to issue a command signal to the at least one selected automated vehicle and to the at least one selected payload through an I/O communication interface of said mission planning system, to automatically control the at least one selected automated vehicle and the at least one selected payload, to at least one of: to move along a route to a geographical area defined for the mission, to move in a movement pattern through the geographical area and to move in a defined speed and/or altitude within the geographical area, and to execute the mission according to the selected specific plan by executing the respective low-level instructions.

Description

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to operating autonomous vehicles to accomplish a mission, and, more specifically, but not exclusively, to operating autonomous vehicles to accomplish a mission according to a hierarchically computed plan first computed for selected automated vehicle and payload classes followed by computing a specific plan for selected members of the selected classes. The use of automated vehicles either remotely controlled, partially-automated and/or autonomous vehicles is rapidly increasing in a plurality of market segments for a plurality of missions and applications ranging from commercial applications to military applications as well as other government level applications. As demonstrated and proved in numerous use cases and applications, the use of automated vehicles may significantly reduce manual labor, cost while significantly increasing productivity, efficiency, quality and more. One major example for effective use of automated vehicles are agricultural related mission and applications where automated vehicles typically coupled with appropriate payloads are deployed and operated for a plurality of operations over vast geographical areas which in case of manually operated vehicles as traditionally used may consume massive resources. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide, methods, systems and software program products for automatically operating automated vehicles to accomplish a mission according to a hierarchically computed mission plan computed first for selected vehicle and payload classes followed by computing specific plans for vehicles and payloads selected from the selected classes. The foregoing and other objects are achieved by the features of the independent claims. Further implementation forms are apparent from the dependent claims, the description and the figures. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of operating automated vehicles to accomplish an agricultural mission according to a hierarchically computed mission plan, comprising: Receiving a plurality of mission parameters defining an agricultural related mission.Computing a generic plan for executing the mission by one or more of a plurality of vehicle classes coupled with one or more of a plurality of payload classes. Each of the plurality of vehicle classes comprising automated vehicles sharing common vehicle parameters. Each of the plurality of payload classes comprising payloads sharing common payload parameters. The one or more vehicle classes and the one or more payload classes are selected based on their respective common vehicle and payload parameters with respect to the mission parameters.Computing a plurality of specific plans for executing the mission by one or more automated vehicles of the one or more selected vehicle classes coupled with one or more payloads of the one or more selected payload classes.Selecting one of the plurality of specific plans which reduces one or more mission attributes of the mission.Outputting instructions for operating the one or more selected automated vehicles and the one or more selected payloads to execute the mission according to the selected specific plan. According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for operating automated vehicles to accomplish an agricultural mission according to a hierarchically computed mission plan, comprising one or more processor configured to execute a code, the code comprising: Code instructions to receive a plurality of mission parameters defining an agricultural related mission.Code instructions to compute a generic plan for executing the mission by one or more of a plurality of vehicle classes coupled with one or more of a plurality of payload classes. Each of the plurality of vehicle classes comprising automated vehicles sharing common vehicle parameters. Each of the plurality of payload classes comprising payloads sharing common payload parameters. The one or more vehicle classes and the one or more payload classes are selected based on their respective common vehicle and payload parameters with respect to the mission parameters.Code instructions to compute a plurality of specific plans for executing the mission by one or more automated vehicles of the one or more selected vehicle classes coupled with one or more payloads of the one or more selected payload classes.Code instructions to select one of the plurality of specific plans which reduces one or more mission attributes of the mission.Code instructions to output instructions for operating the one or more selected automated vehicles and the one or more selected payloads to execute the mission according to the selected specific plan. According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program product for operating automated vehicles to accomplish an agricultural mission accordi