Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority based on application filed in People’s Republic of China on 05/29/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/30/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung (U.S. 2021/0370733) and further in view of Whitman et al (U.S. 2020/0117198).
1. As per claims 1,14,20 Chung disclosed a motion control method for a robot, performed by an electronic device, the method comprising:
obtaining environment information of a current environment, in which the robot is located, and a current motion parameter of a joint of the robot [Accordingly, many embodiments are directed to robots with various bio-inspired designs capable of multiple modes of operation in a synchronized manner to enable the robot to maneuver on a variety of different terrains. FIG. 1, for example, illustrates an embodiment of a multi-modal robot 100 with a pair of legs 102 that are positioned beneath the main body 104 of the robot.] (Paragraph. 0059);
determining an environment type of the current environment based on the environment information; determining a current posture of the robot based on the current motion parameter of the joint [Accordingly, many embodiments are directed to robots with various bio-inspired designs capable of multiple modes of operation in a synchronized manner to enable the robot to maneuver on a variety of different terrains. FIG. 1, for example, illustrates an embodiment of a multi-modal robot 100 with a pair of legs 102 that are positioned beneath the main body 104 of the robot. The legs can be configured in accordance with a number of different designs such that they provide general support for the body of the robot and provide modality in a walking mode for the robot 100] (Paragraph. 0059);
determining position information of the robot in the current environment based on the environment information and the current motion parameter of the joint [Accordingly, FIGS. 8 through 10 illustrate the tracking of the robot in a walking mode based on the various trajectories of the foot elements. For example, FIG. 8 illustrates the position of the left and right feet with respect to the center of mass in the body axes. The dashed line 802 makes the desired foot location and the solid line 804 illustrates the actual foot location.] (Paragraph. 0080);
switching a current motion mode of the robot to a target motion mode corresponding to the environment type in response to the current posture and the position information satisfying a motion mode switching condition [Robots with a multi-modal locomotion ability have drawn much attention over the past couple of decades due to their advantages over robots having only a single mode of locomotion, such as moving through challenging environments by appropriately switching between available locomotion modes or having flexibility with the execution of their missions. While some previous works presented terrestrial and aquatic locomotion abilities, others attempted to develop hybrid ground and aerial locomotion robots. Some of these robots adopted a fixed-wing to take advantage of its endurance and efficiency combined with wheel-legs or “whegs” to enable ground locomotion] (Paragraph. 0054); and
configuring a target motion parameter for the joint of the robot based on the target motion mode corresponding to the environment type [Some embodiments of the robot may be configured with the ability to utilize additional sensors (116 and 118) at different locations on the robot. The additional sensors (116 and 118) can provide additional input to the controllers (not shown) to allow the robot to navigate a number of different terrains. For example, some embodiments may have cameras or some type of visual detection sensor that can be used to improve navigation of rough and uncertain terrain or can be used to implement autonomous operation] (Paragraph. 0063),
However, Chung did not explicitly disclose the target motion parameter being configured for switching a part of the robot in contact with a ground to a ground contact part in the target motion mode.
In the same field of endeavor Whitman disclosed, in some implementations, the robot 10 further includes one or more appendages, such as an articulated arm 20 disposed on the body 11 and configured to move relative to the body 11. The articulated arm 20 may have five-degrees or more of freedom. Moreover, the articulated arm 20 may be interchangeably referred to as a manipulator arm or simply an appendage. In the example shown, the articulated arm 20 includes two portions 22, 24 rotatable relative to one another and also the body 11; however, the articulated arm 20 may include more or less portions without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The first portion 22 may be separated from second portion 24 by an articulated arm joint 26. An end effector 28, which may be interchangeably referred to as a manipulator head 28, may be coupled to a distal end of the second portion 24 of the articulated arm 20 and may include one or more actuators 29 for gripping/grasping objects (Paragraph 0032).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing was made to have incorporated in some implementations, the robot 10 further includes one or more appendages, such as an articulated arm 20 disposed on the body 11 and configured to move relative to the body 11. The articulated arm 20 may have five-degrees or more of freedom. Moreover, the articulated arm 20 may be interchangeably referred to as a manipulator arm or simply an appendage. In the example shown, the articulated arm 20 includes two portions 22, 24 rotatable relative to one another and also the body 11; however, the articulated arm 20 may include more or less portions without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The first portion 22 may be separated from second portion 24 by an articulated arm joint 26. An end effector 28, which may be interchangeably referred to as a manipulator head 28, may be coupled to a distal end of the second portion 24 of the articulated arm 20 and may include one or more actuators 29 for gripping/grasping objects as taught by Whitman in the method and system of Chung to increase the stability and balancing of the robot.
2. As per claims 2,15 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein the current motion parameter comprises an acceleration and an angular velocity of the joint of the robot; and determining the position information of the robot in the current environment comprises: respectively performing integration on the angular velocity and the acceleration of the joint, to obtain displacement information of the joint in the current environment; and determining a current position of the robot in the current environment based on the displacement information of the joint, sizes of limbs of the robot, and the environment information (Chung, Paragraph. 0078).
3. As per claims 3,16 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein the displacement information comprises a joint angle change and a displacement distance, and the environment information comprises terrain data; and determining the current position of the robot in the current environment based on the displacement information of the joint, sizes of the limbs of the robot, and the environment information comprises: performing following processing for the joint: updating an initial joint angle of the joint based on the joint angle change (Whitman, Paragraph. 0033), to obtain a current angle of the joint, and updating an initial position of the joint based on the displacement distance, to obtain the current position of the joint (Whitman, Paragraph. 0031); determining a contact position of the part of the robot in contact with the ground in the current environment based on the terrain data; determining a center-of-mass position of the robot in the current environment based on the current angle and the current position of the joint, the sizes of limbs, and contact positions; and using the current angle and the current position of the joint, contact positions, and the center- of-mass position as the current position of the robot in the current environment (Whitman, Paragraph. 0044). Claims 3,16 has the same motivation as to claim 1.
4. As per claims 4,17 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein the current motion parameter comprises an included angle of the joint of the robot; and determining the current posture of the robot based on the current motion parameter of the joint comprises: determining a relative position between a limb of the robot and a torso of the robot based on the included angle of the joint and sizes of limbs of the robot; and determining a current posture of the robot based on the relative position between the limb and the torso of the robot (Whitman, Paragraph. 0036). Claims 4,17 has the same motivation as to claim 1.
5. As per claims 5,18 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein configuring the target motion parameter for the joint of the robot based on the target motion mode corresponding to the environment type comprises: obtaining the target motion mode corresponding to the environment type; obtaining a preconfigured initial motion parameter of the joint of the robot associated with the target motion mode; performing iterative updating on the initial motion parameter of the joint based on the environment information corresponding to the environment type (Chung, Paragraph. 0059), to obtain a plurality of target motion parameters; combining the plurality of target motion parameters based on chronological order of times at which the plurality of target motion parameters are generated, to obtain a parameter sequence, a target motion parameter in the parameter sequence being configured for controlling a motion state of the joint at a different time; and controlling a motion state of the joint of the robot based on chronological order corresponding to the target motion parameter in the parameter sequence (Chung, Paragraph. 0075).
6. As per claims 6,19 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein obtaining the target motion mode corresponding to the environment type comprises: invoking a neural network model to perform feature extraction based on the environment information corresponding to the environment type, to obtain an environment feature; invoking a classifier of the neural network model to determine a type of the environment feature, to obtain a motion mode corresponding to the environment feature; and using the motion mode corresponding to the environment feature as the target motion mode (Chung, Paragraph. 0059).
7. As per claim 7 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein obtaining the environment information of the current environment, in which the robot is located, and the current motion parameter of the joint of the robot comprises: invoking a sensor of the joint of the robot, to obtain an angular velocity, an included angle, and a motion velocity of the joint, and using the angular velocity, the included angle, and the motion velocity as the current motion parameter (Chung, Paragraph. 0078); invoking a distance sensor of the robot, to obtain a spacing between a surface of the robot and an obstacle in the current environment; invoking a tactile sensor of the robot, to obtain a contact part of the robot with the current environment; invoking a visual sensor of the robot, to obtain an obstacle position in the current environment; and using the obstacle position, the contact part, and the spacing as the environment information of the current environment (Chung, Paragraph. 0063).
8. As per claim 8 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein the robot comprises at least two of following motion modes: a four-wheel mode, a quadruped mode, a two-wheel mode, a two-wheel and bipedal mode, a bipedal mode, a fall recovery mode, and a folded mode (Chung, Paragraph. 0008).
9. As per claim 9 Chung-Whitman disclosed further comprising: switching the current motion mode of the robot to the fall recovery mode in response to the current posture being a falling posture and a distance between the current position of the robot and the obstacle being greater than a first distance threshold (Chung, Paragraph. 0081).
10. As per claim 10 Chung-Whitman disclosed further comprising: obtaining a current battery capacity of the robot in response to the current posture being a motion posture and a distance between the current position of the robot and the obstacle being greater than a second distance threshold, and switching the current motion mode of the robot to the folded mode in response to the current battery capacity being less than a battery capacity threshold (Chung, Paragraph. 0067).
11. As per claim 11 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein when the environment type is a flat ground, switching the current motion mode of the robot to a target motion mode corresponding to the environment type in response to the current posture and the position information satisfying the motion mode switching condition comprises: switching the current motion mode of the robot to a four-wheel mode adapting to the flat ground in response to the current posture not being a four-wheel moving posture and the distance between the current position of the robot and the obstacle being greater than a third distance threshold (Chung, Paragraph. 0057).
12. As per claim 12 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein when the environment type is a flat ground, switching the current motion mode of the robot to the target motion mode corresponding to the environment type in response to the current posture and the position information satisfying the motion mode switching condition comprises: switching the current motion mode of the robot to a two-wheel mode adapting to the flat ground in response to the current posture not being a two-wheel moving posture and the distance between the current position of the robot and the obstacle being greater than the third distance threshold (Chung, Paragraph. 0054).
13. As per claim 13 Chung-Whitman disclosed wherein when the environment type is a non-flat ground, switching the current motion mode of the robot to the target motion mode corresponding to the environment type in response to the current posture and the position information satisfying the motion mode switching condition comprises: switching the current motion mode of the robot to a quadruped mode adapting to the non-flat ground in response to the current posture not being a quadruped moving posture and the distance between the current position of the robot and the obstacle being greater than the third distance threshold (Whitman, Paragraph. 0038). Claims 13 has the same motivation as to claim 1.
Conclusion
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examiner should be directed to Adnan Mirza whose telephone number is (571)-272-3885.
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/ADNAN M MIRZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3667
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