Systems and methods for charging, transporting, and operating flying machines

    公开(公告)号:US10899445B2

    公开(公告)日:2021-01-26

    申请号:US16080987

    申请日:2017-02-28

    Applicant: VERITY AG

    Abstract: A flying machine storage container is provided that comprises multiple charging stations and a clamping mechanism. The clamping mechanism is configured to secure flying machines in the charging stations and securely close charging circuits between the storage container and the flying machines. A system for launching flying machines is also provided. The system comprises two regions and a transition region between the two regions. The two regions each constrain the positioning of a flying machine and the transition region enables a flying machine to move from the first region to the second region to reach an exit. A flying machine having sufficient performance capabilities will be able to successfully launch. Centralized and decentralized communication architectures are also provided for communicating data between a central control system, multiple storage containers, and multiple stored flying machines stored at each of the storage containers.

    METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ESTIMATING THE ORIENTATION OF AN OBJECT

    公开(公告)号:US20230333572A1

    公开(公告)日:2023-10-19

    申请号:US18210886

    申请日:2023-06-16

    Applicant: Verity AG

    CPC classification number: G05D1/106 G01C21/165 G01C21/18 G01C22/00 B64C39/024

    Abstract: The system receives position information in both an internal coordinate frame and an external coordinate frame. The system uses a comparison of position information in these flames to determine orientation information. The system determines one or more orientation hypotheses, and analyzes the position information based on these hypotheses. The system may include on-board accelerometers, gyroscopes, or both that provide the measurements in the internal coordinate frame. These measurements may be integrated otherwise processed to determine position, velocity, or both. Measurements in the external frame are provided by GPS sensors or other positioning systems. Position information is transformed to a common coordinate frame, and an error metric is determined. Based on the error metric, the system estimates a likelihood metric for each hypothesis, and determines a resulting hypothesis based on the maximum likelihood or a combination of likelihoods.

    SYSTEM HAVING A PLURALITY OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES AND A METHOD OF CONTROLLING A PLURALITY OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

    公开(公告)号:US20230059856A1

    公开(公告)日:2023-02-23

    申请号:US17981288

    申请日:2022-11-04

    Applicant: VERITY AG

    Abstract: A system comprising, a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles and a single controller for controlling said plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, wherein the single controller is configured such that it can broadcast a command to all of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles so that each of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles receive the same command; and wherein each of the unmanned aerial vehicles comprise a memory which stores a plurality of predefined flight paths each of which is assigned to a respective command; and wherein each of the unmanned aerial vehicles comprise a processor which can, (i) receive a command which has been broadcasted by the single controller to said plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, (ii) retrieve from the memory of that aerial vehicle the flight path which is assigned in the memory to that command, and (iii) operate the aerial vehicle to follow the retrieved flight path. There is further provided a corresponding method of controlling a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles.

    Charging system and tray for flying machines

    公开(公告)号:US11498700B2

    公开(公告)日:2022-11-15

    申请号:US16290687

    申请日:2019-03-01

    Applicant: Verity AG

    Abstract: Flying machines may be docked during charging or other processes. A tray having multiple docking areas is configured to accommodate flying machines for transport and docking. The docking areas may, but need not, include passageways which may accommodate charging stations. For example, a storage enclosure may be configured to house one or more trays, configured to interface to corresponding charging surfaces. Protective layers and vibration dampening features may be used to soften impacts during storage and transport. A charging station may include electrical terminals, recesses, and locating features for docking a flying machine.

    Method and assembly for creating a landmark map

    公开(公告)号:US12175701B2

    公开(公告)日:2024-12-24

    申请号:US17768351

    申请日:2020-10-15

    Applicant: Verity AG

    Abstract: According to the present invention there is provide a method of creating a landmark map comprising the steps of: capturing a plurality of frame using a camera, each frame comprising an image; assigning an image number which denotes the order in which each frame was taken; extracting features from all the images in the captured frames; assigning a distinct identifier to each respective feature which was extracted from the image belonging to the frame which was first captured; for each image belonging to the respective frames which was captured after the first frame was captured, carrying out the following steps: (i) computing a distance between, the location of each respective extracted feature in that image, and the location of each respective feature extracted from image belonging to a previously captured frame; and (ii) determining if said computed distance is less than, a predefined threshold distance; and if the computed distance is not less than said predefined threshold distance then assign that extracted feature the same identifier as is assigned to the extracted feature in the image belonging to the previously captured frame; if the computed distance is greater than the predefined threshold distance, then assign a new identifier to the extracted feature; providing a list of features which comprises image numbers which denotes each of the captured frames; for each respective image number the identifiers which denote the features which were extracted from the image belonging to that frame; and for each identifier the coordinates which represent the location of the extracted feature in that image; carrying out structure-from-motion followed by repeated landmark representation merging and bundle adjustment, using the list of features, so as to create a landmark map. There is further provided an assembly having a processor which is configured to carry out said method of creating a landmark map.

    Aerial vehicle
    17.
    发明授权

    公开(公告)号:US11814185B2

    公开(公告)日:2023-11-14

    申请号:US17012398

    申请日:2020-09-04

    Applicant: VERITY AG

    Abstract: According to the present invention there is provided an aerial vehicle that is operable to fly, the aerial vehicle having at least a first and second subsystem that are operably connected, wherein the first subsystem comprises a first flight module, first one or more effectors that are selectively operable to generate a first force sufficient to cause the aerial vehicle to fly; and the second subsystem comprises a second flight module, second one or more effectors that are selectively operable to generate a second force sufficient to cause the aerial vehicle to fly; such that the first or second subsystem can be selectively used to fly the aerial vehicle not relying on the one or more effectors of the other subsystem. There is further provided a corresponding method for controlling an aerial vehicle.

    DISTRIBUTED LOCALIZATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS AND SELF-LOCALIZING APPARATUS

    公开(公告)号:US20220334598A1

    公开(公告)日:2022-10-20

    申请号:US17856342

    申请日:2022-07-01

    Applicant: Verity AG

    Abstract: A self-localizing apparatus uses timestampable signals transmitted by transceivers that are a part of a distributed localization system to compute its position relative to the transceivers. Transceivers and self-localizing apparatuses are arranged for highly accurate timestamping using digital and analog reception and transmission electronics as well as one or more highly accurate clocks, compensation units, localization units, position calibration units, scheduling units, or synchronization units. Transceivers and self-localizing apparatuses are further arranged to allow full scalability in the number of self-localizing apparatuses and to allow robust self-localization with latencies and update rates useful for high performance applications such as autonomous mobile robot control.

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