Stand-alone self-driving material-transport vehicle

Abstract

Systems and methods for a stand-alone self-driving material-transport vehicle are provided. A method includes: displaying a graphical map on a graphical user-interface device based on a map stored in a storage medium of the vehicle, receiving a navigation instruction based on the graphical map, and navigating the vehicle based on the navigation instruction. As the vehicle navigates, it senses features of an industrial facility using its sensor system, and locates the features relative to the map. Subsequently, the vehicle stores the updated map including the feature on the vehicle's storage medium. The map can then be shared with other vehicles or a fleet-management system.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of mapping an industrial facility with a self-driving vehicle, comprising:
 displaying a graphical map on a graphical user-interface device based on a map stored in a non-transient computer-readable medium of the vehicle;   receiving at least one navigation instruction based on the graphical map;   navigating the vehicle based on the at least one navigation instruction;   sensing a feature of the facility using a sensor system of the vehicle;   locating the feature relative to the map; and   storing an updated map based on the map and the feature on the medium of the vehicle.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one navigation instruction is based on a location relative to the map, and navigating the vehicle comprises autonomously navigating the vehicle to the location. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one navigation instruction comprises a direction, and navigating the vehicle comprises semi-autonomously navigating the vehicle based on the direction. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising updating the displayed graphical map based on the feature. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the updated map to a second self-driving vehicle. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein transmitting the updated map to the second self-driving vehicle comprises transmitting the updated map to a fleet-management system and subsequently transmitting the updated map from the fleet-management system to the second vehicle. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising the preliminary step of determining a map of the facility relative to the vehicle. 
     
     
         8 . A method of commanding a self-driving vehicle in an industrial facility, comprising:
 determining a map of the facility relative to the vehicle;   displaying a graphical map based on the map;   navigating the vehicle in a semi-autonomous mode; and   recording a recipe based on a plurality of semi-autonomous navigation steps associated with the navigating the vehicle in the semi-autonomous mode.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein recording the recipe comprises deriving a plurality of tasks associated with the plurality of semi-autonomous navigation steps, and wherein the recipe comprises the plurality of tasks. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 sensing a feature of the facility using a sensor system of the vehicle; and   generating a substitute navigation step based on at least one semi-autonomous navigation step and the feature;   wherein the recipe is based on the substitute navigation step.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the recipe does not comprise the at least one semi-autonomous navigation step. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising transmitting the recipe to a second self-driving vehicle, wherein the second vehicle autonomously navigates based on the recipe. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein transmitting the recipe to the second self-driving vehicle comprises transmitting the recipe to a fleet-management system and subsequently transmitting the recipe from the fleet-management system to the second vehicle. 
     
     
         14 . A self-driving transport system comprising:
 a self-driving vehicle having a drive system for moving the vehicle and a control system for controlling the drive system; and   a graphical user-interface device in communication with the vehicle for receiving a navigation instruction from a user and transmitting a corresponding navigation command to the control system;   wherein, the control system receives the navigation command and controls the drive system to autonomously move the vehicle according to the navigation instruction.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the control system has a non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing a map;   the self-driving vehicle has a server in communication with the control system for generating a graphical map based on the map; and   the graphical user-interface device in communication with the vehicle comprises the graphical user-interface device in wireless communication with the server.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the graphical user-interface device comprises:
 a coordinate system having a plurality of coordinates associated with the graphical map; and   a user-input device for selecting a coordinate;   wherein the selected coordinate is transmitted from the graphical user-interface device to the server, and the coordinate corresponds to a location in the map.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the control system has a non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing a map;   the graphical user-interface device in communication with the vehicle comprises the graphical user-interface device in wireless communication with the control system; and   the graphical user-interface device is configured to receive the map from the control system and generate a graphical map based on the map.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the graphical user-interface device comprises:
 a coordinate system having a plurality of coordinates associated with the graphical map; and   a user-input device for selecting a coordinate;   wherein the graphical user-input device transmits a location on the map corresponding to the selected coordinate to the control system.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 14 , further comprising a fleet-management system, wherein:
 the vehicle comprises a sensor system for sensing objects within a peripheral environment of the vehicle; and   the control system comprises a non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing a map based on the sensed objects and a transceiver in communication with the fleet-management system;   wherein the control system transmits the map to the fleet-management system using the transceiver.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 14 , further comprising a fleet-management system, wherein:
 the control system comprises a non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing a vehicle status based on the performance of the vehicle and a transceiver in communication with the fleet-management system; and   the control system transmits the vehicle status to the fleet-management system using the transceiver.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 14 , further comprising a fleet-management system, wherein:
 the control system comprises a non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing a vehicle configuration and a transceiver in communication with the fleet-management system; and   the control system transmits the vehicle status to the fleet-management system using the transceiver.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , where the control system receives a recovery configuration from the fleet-management system using the transceiver, stores the recovery configuration in the medium, and controls the vehicle according to the recovery configuration.