Figure Robotics Autonomous cargo transportation system

2022: Increase the accuracy of the forecast of the corridor of movement of all dump trucks by 70 meters forward

"Number Robotics" (included in the Group of Companies "Figure") has released an updated release of the autonomous cargo transportation system, creating a reliable and safe environment scanning system. As a result, the number of false stops of robotic quarry dump trucks was reduced by 3.5 times, and downtime by 5 times. This was reported by GK Figure on May 19, 2022.

Our system, which includes software a set of sensors, is universal. It can be installed on any dump truck and any other transport means and used to detect environmental objects in order to prevent collisions and ensure the safety of movement of autonomous vehicles. In addition, the decision can act as an assistant to the driver, "said Alexei Yakovenko, Director General of Figure Robotics.

The environment scanning system received a major update of its modules: radar, lidars and inertial IMU sensors. Radars using radio waves help track objects over long distances and can work in any weather conditions. Lidars using shorter laser waves have greater accuracy and reliability, which helps to better respond to minor environmental changes. IMU sensors help predict the position of the dump truck in the absence of a high-precision GPS receiver for a certain period of time. The combination of these sensors has formed a reliable and safe environmental scanning system that works effectively under poor weather conditions.

In order not to stop the quarry due to poor weather conditions, we introduced a filter that removes single groups of points from lidar data, which can be mistaken for objects such as hail, dust, fog, "explained Alexei Yakovenko.

The solution also reduces the time of the transport cycle, since the accuracy of the forecast of the corridor of movement of all dump trucks by 70 meters forward has been increased and the future position of dump trucks relative to each other is now known exactly, so that dump trucks do not slow down passing nearby. In addition, it became possible to predict the movement of objects that do not have navigation blocks. This solution makes it possible to improve safety of movement of conventional heavy-duty vehicles on the section.

For more efficient production, in an updated release, "Figure Robotics" added the ability to distribute autonomous machines on the site depending on the workload of the tracks in order to avoid queues, and redistribute robotic transport if it is impossible to clean the dump.