Automated removal and replacement of vehicle wheels and tires

{
  "publication_number": "US11787234B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Automated removal and replacement of vehicle wheels and tires",
  "abstract": "Systems, methods and apparatus for automated vehicle wheel removal and replacement are provided. One system includes a computer system with applications for scheduling the replacement of tires for the vehicle. An electronically controlled lift device and robotic apparatus is configured for interaction with the computer system. The lift device mechanically adjusts arms for placement on lift points of vehicles. The robotic apparatus detects positioning of lug nut configuration for a wheel, removes lug nuts, and then removes the wheel from the wheel hub with gripping arms. The wheel and tire are then handed off to a separate tire changing machine. When a new tire is replaced the robotic apparatus then mounts the wheel to the original wheel hub, and then secures the lug nuts to the lug nut bolts.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A method for removing lug nuts from one or more wheels of a vehicle, the method comprising: obtaining one or more images of a first wheel of the vehicle; determining, based on the obtained one or more images, a lug nut pattern for the first wheel of the vehicle, wherein the determined lug nut pattern is any one of a four lug nut pattern or a five lug nut pattern; instructing a robotic apparatus to remove a first group of lug nuts from the first wheel of the vehicle, wherein a number of the first group of lug nuts is the same as a number of lug nuts of the determined lug nut pattern; and instructing the robotic apparatus to remove a number of a second group of lug nuts from a second wheel of the vehicle, wherein a number of the second group of lug nuts is the same as the number of the first group of lug nuts.",
    "2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a lug nut pattern comprises: inputting the obtained one or more images of the first wheel into neural network trained to identify different type of lug nut patterns; and based on the one or more images, determining by the neural network, the lug nut pattern.",
    "3. The method of claim 2, wherein the neural network is trained based on multiple images of 4-pattern lug nuts and 5-pattern lug nuts.",
    "4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining an orientation of the first group of lug nuts positioned about the first wheel.",
    "5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a lug nut pattern comprises: identifying one or more fiducial markers located on at least one of the lug nuts; and determining the lug nut pattern based on the location of the one or more fiducial markers.",
    "6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a lug nut pattern comprises: determining a lug nut pattern based on detecting lug nut objects in the one or more images; and based on the number of detected lug nut objects, identifying the lug nut pattern as the four lug nut configuration or the five lug nut configuration.",
    "7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a lug nut pattern comprises: determining the centroid of the lug nuts, and the spatial dimensions for each of the lug nuts.",
    "8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: instructing the robotic apparatus to replace the first group of lug nuts removed from the first wheel of the vehicle.",
    "9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the operation of: placing, by the robotic apparatus, a removed lug nut into a receiving bin or staging location by the robotic apparatus.",
    "10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on the obtained one or more images, that a lug nut is a lug nut lock; and using a keyed socket to remove the lug nut lock.",
    "11. An automated system for removing lug nuts from one or more wheels of a vehicle, the system comprising: a computer system including one or more processors; and a robotic apparatus comprising control circuitry, the control circuitry of the robotic apparatus communicatively coupled to the computer system, wherein the computer system and the robotic apparatus are configured to perform operations, using the one or more processors, of: obtaining one or more images of a first wheel of the vehicle; determining, based on the obtained one or more images, a lug nut pattern for the first wheel of the vehicle, wherein the determined lug nut pattern is any one of a four lug nut pattern or a five lug nut pattern; instructing the robotic apparatus to remove a first group of lug nuts from the first wheel of the vehicle, wherein a number of the first group of lug nuts is the same as a number of lug nuts of the determined lug nut pattern; and instructing the robotic apparatus to remove a number of a second group of lug nuts from a second wheel of the vehicle, wherein a number of the second group of lug nuts is the same as the number of the first group of lug nuts.",
    "12. The system of claim 11, wherein determining a lug nut pattern comprises: inputting the obtained one or more images of the first wheel into neural network trained to identify different type of lug nut patterns; and based on the one or more images, determining by the neural network, the lug nut pattern.",
    "13. The system of claim 12, wherein the neural network is trained based on multiple images of 4-pattern lug nuts and 5-pattern lug nuts.",
    "14. The system of claim 11, further comprising the operations of: determining an orientation of the first group of lug nuts positioned about the first wheel.",
    "15. The system of claim 11, wherein determining a lug nut pattern comprises: identifying one or more fiducial markers located on at least one of the lug nuts; and determining the lug nut pattern based on the location of the one or more fiducial markers.",
    "16. The system of claim 11, wherein determining a lug nut pattern comprises: determining a lug nut pattern based on detecting lug nut objects in the one or more images; and based on the number of detected lug nut objects, identifying the lug nut pattern as the four lug nut configuration or the five lug nut configuration.",
    "17. The system of claim 11, wherein determining a lug nut pattern comprises: determining the centroid of the lug nuts, and the spatial dimensions for each of the lug nuts.",
    "18. The system of claim 11, further comprising: instructing the robotic apparatus to replace the first group of lug nuts removed from the first wheel of the vehicle.",
    "19. The system of claim 11, further comprising the operations of: instructing the robotic apparatus to place a removed lug nut into a receiving bin or staging location.",
    "20. The system of claim 11, further comprising: determining, based on the obtained one or more images, that a lug nut is a lug nut lock; and using a keyed socket, by the robotic apparatus, to remove the lug nut lock."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "Removal of wheels from vehicle wheel hubs and placing old tires with new tires onto the removed wheels is a manual and time-intensive process. Often a vehicle is jacked up or lifted by a manually operated hydraulic lift or vehicle jack. Lug nuts are then manually removed via a torque wrench or tire iron. Once the lug nuts are removed, the wheel and tire are then physically handled and removed from a wheel-hub. Such manual operations may lead to inefficient operations, and potential physical hazards to a person removing the wheel and tire from the vehicle.\n\nThe present disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying Figures. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.\n\nFIG. 1 illustrates an example system for the automated removal and replacement of a wheel and tire.\n\nFIG. 2 A illustrates an example of an automated wheel removal and wheel replacement station.\n\nFIG. 2 B illustrates an example of automated wheel removal and wheel replacement stations.\n\nFIG. 3 illustrates an example user interface of the computer system.\n\nFIG. 4 illustrates an example user interface of the computer system.\n\nFIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface of the computer system.\n\nFIG. 6 illustrates an example table for a database of the computer system.\n\nFIG. 7 illustrates system modules of the computer system.",
  "cpc": [
    "B60B 29/001",
    "B21D 39/00",
    "B23P 19/04",
    "B23P 19/06",
    "B23P 19/069",
    "B23P 21/002",
    "B23P 2700/50",
    "B23P 6/00",
    "B25J 11/005",
    "B25J 11/008",
    "B25J 9/1656",
    "B25J 9/1661",
    "B25J 9/1674",
    "B25J 9/1679",
    "B25J 9/1697",
    "B60B 2320/00",
    "B60B 2320/10",
    "B60B 2340/18",
    "B60B 2340/34",
    "B60B 2340/50",
    "B60B 2340/52",
    "B60B 29/00",
    "B60C 25/0515",
    "B60S 5/00",
    "B66F 7/26"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B21D 39/00",
    "B23P 19/04",
    "B23P 19/06",
    "B23P 21/00",
    "B23P 6/00",
    "B25J 11/00",
    "B25J 9/16",
    "B60B 29/00",
    "B60C 25/05",
    "B60S 5/00",
    "B66F 7/26"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Robotire Inc"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Jonathan Downey",
    "Victor Darolfi",
    "Robert Baranowski",
    "Mark Bauer",
    "Bernard J. Michini"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2022-08-12",
  "publication_date": "2023-10-17",
  "grant_date": "2023-10-17",
  "priority_date": "2018-04-20",
  "application_number": "US-202217887393-A",
  "family_id": "68239769",
  "cited_by_count": 4,
  "citations": [
    "JPH01145287A",
    "JPH06219105A",
    "EP1645439A2",
    "EP1645439B1",
    "US20060288577A1",
    "US20090035107A1",
    "US9610660B2",
    "US9757828B2",
    "US9757827B2",
    "US8776345B2",
    "US9700973B2",
    "US9700974B2",
    "US8086340B2",
    "US9248701B2",
    "US20130276306A1",
    "WO2014081573A1",
    "CN104354548B",
    "US10493799B2",
    "US20180035606A1",
    "KR20180044109A",
    "CN109454436A",
    "US20190389258A1",
    "US20200001414A1",
    "WO2019204552A1",
    "US20200108659A1",
    "WO2019210390A1"
  ]
}