Filling earth into a vehicle using a cooperative fleet of vehicles

Abstract

This description provides an autonomous or semi-autonomous earth shaping vehicle that is capable of cooperatively filling earth into a fill location in a dig site. A first earth shaping vehicle configured with a hauling tool carrying a volume of earth navigates to the fill location. At the fill location, the first earth shaping vehicle navigates over a target tool path to fill earth from the hauling tool into the fill location. As the first earth shaping vehicle fills earth into the fill location, a measurement sensor coupled to the first earth shaping vehicle measures a compaction level of earth filled into the fill location. If the measured compaction level is determined to be below a threshold compaction level, the first earth shaping vehicle communicates a request for a second earth shaping vehicle configured with a compaction tool to compact earth in the fill location.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for filling material into a fill location encoded thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to:
 navigate an earth shaping vehicle (“ESV”) to the fill location, wherein the ESV comprises a hauling tool for moving material to the fill location;   responsive to filling material into the fill location, measure, by a measurement sensor coupled to the first ESV, a compaction level of material filled into the fill location; and   responsive to determining the compaction level to be below a threshold level, generate an instruction for an ESV compaction tool to compact material in the fill location.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 measure, by a measurement sensor coupled to the first ESV, an amount of material in the fill location;   determine a difference between the measured volume of material and a target volume; and   generate instructions for the ESV to fill the difference.   
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 receive a target volume of material in the fill location;   measure a current volume of material in the fill location; and   generate instructions for the ESV to repeat navigation over the fill location to achieve the target volume of material in the fill location.   
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 receive a target compaction level of material in the fill location;   measure a current compaction level of material in the fill location; and   generate instructions for the ESV compaction tool to repeat navigation over the fill location to achieve the target compaction level of material in the fill location.   
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 4 , wherein the generated instructions are updated based on compaction of material in the fill location resulting from the navigation of the drivetrain of the ESV and the ESV compaction tool over the fill location. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 measure, by a measurement sensor coupled to the ESV, an amount of material in a plurality of regions of the fill location;   identify, from the measurements, a region with the least amount of material; and   generate instructions to fill material into the identified region.   
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the generated instruction causes the ESV or the ESV compaction tool to repeat a pass over the fill location to achieve a target volume of material in the fill location or a target compaction level. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 actuate the hauling tool to an orientation at which material is released from the hauling tool; and   navigate the first ESV to fill material into the fill location.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 communicate a request for a supplementary ESV to transfer material from the ESV into the fill location, wherein the supplementary ESV comprises an excavation tool for transferring material from the hauling tool of the first ESV into the fill location.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 responsive to filling material into the fill location, measure, by a measurement sensor coupled to the first ESV, a smoothness of material filled into the fill location; and   responsive to determining the smoothness to be below a threshold level, communicating a request for a supplementary ESV to grade material in the fill location, wherein the supplementary ESV comprises a grading tool for smoothing material.   
     
     
         11 . The computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 generate a representation of the fill location, the representation describing a volume of material in the fill location;   responsive to filling material into the fill location by the first ESV, update the representation of the fill location to describe an updated volume of material in the fill location; and   communicate the updated representation to at least one supplementary loading ESV carrying material to be filled into the fill location, wherein an instruction for the supplementary loading ESV to fill material into the fill location is updated based on the updated representation of the fill location.   
     
     
         12 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for filling material into a fill location encoded thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to:
 navigate an earth shaping vehicle (“ESV”) to the fill location, wherein the ESV comprises a hauling tool for moving material to the fill location; 
 responsive to filling material into the fill location, measure, by a measurement sensor coupled to the first ESV, a compaction level of material filled into the fill location; and 
 responsive to determining the compaction level to be below a threshold level, generate an instruction for an ESV compaction tool to compact material in the fill location. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 measure, by a measurement sensor coupled to the first ESV, an amount of material in the fill location;   determine a difference between the measured volume of material and a target volume; and   generate instructions for the ESV to fill the difference.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 receive a target volume of material in the fill location;   measure a current volume of material in the fill location; and   generate instructions for the ESV to repeat navigation over the fill location to achieve the target volume of material in the fill location.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 measure, by a measurement sensor coupled to the ESV, an amount of material in a plurality of regions of the fill location;   identify, from the measurements, a region with the least amount of material; and   generate instructions to fill material into the identified region.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 actuate the hauling tool to an orientation at which material is released from the hauling tool; and   navigate the first ESV to fill material into the fill location.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 communicate a request for a supplementary ESV to transfer material from the ESV into the fill location, wherein the supplementary ESV comprises an excavation tool for transferring material from the hauling tool of the first ESV into the fill location.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 responsive to filling material into the fill location, measure, by a measurement sensor coupled to the first ESV, a smoothness of material filled into the fill location; and   responsive to determining the smoothness to be below a threshold level, communicating a request for a supplementary ESV to grade material in the fill location, wherein the supplementary ESV comprises a grading tool for smoothing material.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise stored instructions that when executed cause the processors to:
 generate a representation of the fill location, the representation describing a volume of material in the fill location;   responsive to filling material into the fill location by the first ESV, update the representation of the fill location to describe an updated volume of material in the fill location; and   communicate the updated representation to at least one supplementary loading ESV carrying material to be filled into the fill location, wherein an instruction for the supplementary loading ESV to fill material into the fill location is updated based on the updated representation of the fill location.   
     
     
         20 . A method for filling earth into a fill location, the method comprising:
 navigating an earth shaping vehicle (“ESV”) to the fill location, wherein the ESV comprises a hauling tool for moving material to the fill location;   responsive to filling material into the fill location, measuring, by a measurement sensor coupled to the first ESV, a compaction level of material filled into the fill location; and   responsive to determining the compaction level to be below a threshold level, generating an instruction for an ESV compaction tool to compact material in the fill location.