“Automatic Wheel Changer Robot” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20200376671)

2020 DEC 17 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent application by the inventors Taylor, Steven (Madison, IN); Lauderbaugh, Gerry (Madison, IN); Elliott, Robert (Madison, IN), filed on May 28, 2020, was made available online on December 3, 2020, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx correspondents.

This patent application is assigned to Vehicle Service Group LLC (Madison, Indiana, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “When a vehicle is being serviced, wheels (such as tires) on the vehicle may be rotated or replaced by a technician utilizing their hands and manually operated hand tools. Similarly, when a vehicle is being assembled, wheels may be initially installed on the hub assembly of the vehicle by a technician. Rotating wheels on a vehicle may include removing the lug nuts from the hub assemblies when wheels are attached to the corresponding hub assembly, removing the wheels from the corresponding hub assembly, reattaching the wheels to different hub assemblies of the same vehicle, and then reattaching the lug nuts to the lug studs of each hub assembly to suitably fix the wheels to their new corresponding hub assembly. Wheels may be rotated in various suitable patterns, which are usually determined by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) as will be understood by those skilled in the art. Currently, technicians are required to manually operate tools in order rotate, replace, or initially install wheels on a vehicle. In some instances, such as while a vehicle is being assembled, factory floor equipment is also used to help install new wheels on a vehicle in an assembly line within tightly controlled parameters.

“While a variety of tire changing/installing equipment has been made and used, it is believed that no one prior to the inventor(s) has made or used an invention as described herein.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “A robotic wheel changing device includes a drive assembly, a torque gun, a sensor assembly, and a controller. The drive assembly has a mobile base and two wheel-clamping assemblies, each configured to engage a wheel. The controller generates a set of instructions based, at least in part, on information obtained from the sensor assembly. The drive assembly uses the set of instructions to cooperatively remove respective wheels from respective hubs on a vehicle and/or attach respective wheels to respective hubs on a vehicle. The device may have lidar sensors and Mecanum wheels that the controller is programmed to use to move between respective hubs and wheel storage locations install wheels, replace wheels, rotate tires, and perform similar operations.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A robotic device, comprising: (a) a drive assembly, comprising a mobile base assembly configured to move the robotic device, (b) a torque gun actuation assembly operable to attach a lug nut to a lug stud or detach the lug nut from the lug stud while a first wheel is attached to the lug stud; © a sensor assembly; and (d) a controller in communication with the drive assembly, the torque gun actuation assembly, and the sensor assembly; wherein the controller is configured to generate a set of instructions based, at least in part, on information obtained from the sensor assembly; wherein the controller is configured to communicate the set of instructions to the drive assembly and the torque gun actuation assembly; and wherein the drive assembly and the torque gun actuation assembly are configured to utilize the set of instructions to cooperatively (i) remove the first wheel from a hub, or (ii) attach the first wheel to the hub.

“2. The robotic device of claim 1, wherein: the mobile base assembly comprises a frame and a wheel assembly, and the sensor assembly comprises at least one lidar detector fixed to the frame.

“3. The robotic device of claim 2, wherein the wheel assembly comprises a plurality of Mecanum wheel assemblies.

“4. The robotic device of claim 3, wherein each Mecanum wheel assembly of the plurality of Mecanum wheel assemblies comprises an individual DC motor.

“5. The robotic device of claim 1, wherein the torque gun actuation assembly comprises a torque gun.

“6. The robotic device of claim 5, wherein the torque gun actuation assembly is configured to rotate the torque gun between a first rotational position and a second rotational position, the torque gun faces toward a first wheel-clamping assembly in the first rotational position, and the torque gun faces toward a second wheel-clamping assembly in the second rotational position.

“7. The robotic device of claim 6, further comprising a socket holder assembly housing a plurality of sockets, and wherein the torque gun is configured to selectively couple and decouple with each socket of the plurality of sockets, one at a time.

“8. The robotic device of claim 7, wherein: the torque gun actuation assembly is configured to rotate the torque gun into a third rotational position, and the torque gun faces the socket holder assembly in the third rotational position.

“9. The robotic device of claim 5, wherein: the torque gun actuation assembly is configured to vertically and horizontally actuate the torque gun into alignment with a lug stud, and the torque gun actuation assembly is further configured to actuate the torque gun into operable engagement with the lug stud.

“10. The robotic device of claim 5, wherein the torque gun actuation assembly comprises a mount adapted to couple the torque gun with the torque gun actuation assembly.

“11. The robotic device of claim 10, wherein the sensor assembly comprises: a camera fixed to the mount, and a lidar assembly attached to the mount.

“12. The robotic device of claim 11, wherein the mount comprises a torque displacement assembly configured to longitudinally actuate the torque gun relative to the torque gun actuation assembly in response to attaching or detaching the lug nut to the lug stud.

“13. A robotic device, comprising: (a) one or more processing units; (b) a visual sensor configured to produce visual data and communicate the visual data to the one or more processing units; © an actuation assembly in communication with the one or more processing units, wherein the actuation assembly is configured to actuate the robotic device in proximity to a vehicle having a plurality of wheels, and (d) an engagement assembly in communication with the one or more processing units, wherein the engagement assembly comprises a wheel-clamping assembly that is configured to selectively grasp a first wheel and a second wheel at the same time, wherein the wheel-clamping assembly is configured to rotate the first wheel and the second wheel each about a respective central axis, and wherein the one or more processing units are programmed to accept the visual data from the visual sensor and responsively operate to drive the actuation assembly and the engagement assembly to remove each of the plurality of wheels from an original location on the vehicle and reattach each of the plurality of wheels at a different location on the vehicle.

“14. The robotic device of claim 13, further comprising an external casing defining a first window and a second window, wherein the first window is adjacent to a first portion of the wheel-clamping assembly configured to grasp the first wheel, and wherein the second window is adjacent to a second portion of the wheel-clamping assembly configured to grasp the second wheel.

“15. The robotic device of claim 14, wherein the visual sensor comprises a first camera and a second camera attached to the external casing.

“16. The robotic device of claim 14, wherein: the first window faces in a first direction, the second window faces in a second direction, and the first direction and the second direction are opposite of each other.

“17. The robotic device of claim 13, wherein: the wheel-clamping assembly comprises an upper wheel-clamping assembly and a lower wheel-clamping assembly, and the upper wheel-clamping assembly and the lower wheel-clamping assembly are configured to vertically actuate relative to each other between a disengaged position and an engaged position.

“18. The robotic device of claim 17, wherein: the upper wheel-clamping assembly comprises a clamping body and a plurality of idler rollers attached to the clamping body, and wherein the lower wheel-clamping assembly comprises a drive roller assembly configured to rotate the first wheel while the upper wheel-clamping assembly and the lower wheel-clamping assembly are in the engaged position.

“19. The robotic device of claim 17, wherein the visual sensor comprises a lidar assembly and a camera attached to the lower wheel-clamping assembly.

“20. A robotic device, comprising: (a) a control unit; (b) a visual sensor configured to communicate visual data to the control unit; © an actuation assembly in communication with the control unit, wherein the actuation assembly is configured to actuate the robotic device in proximity to a vehicle, and (d) an engagement assembly in communication with the control unit, wherein the engagement assembly comprises: (i) a wheel-clamping assembly configured to selectively grasp a wheel, and (ii) a torqueing assembly configured to selectively attach and detach a plurality of lug nuts to a respective lug stud, wherein the control unit is programmed to accept the visual data from the visual sensor and responsively operate to drive the actuation assembly and the engagement assembly to: (i) actuate the robotic device into proximity to the vehicle, (ii) remove the wheel from a first location of the vehicle, and (iii) reattach the wheel to a second location of the vehicle.”

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Taylor, Steven; Lauderbaugh, Gerry; Elliott, Robert. Automatic Wheel Changer Robot. Filed May 28, 2020 and posted December 3, 2020. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220200376671%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20200376671&RS=DN/20200376671

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