US 10,245,993 B1Granted

Modular autonomous ground vehicles

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorsTye Michael Brady, Darren Ernest Canavor, Ethan Zane Evans, Pragyana K. Mishra, Hilliard Bruce Siegel

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Autonomous ground vehicles (“AGVs”) are utilized to transport items to delivery locations and may be modular in that a storage compartment portion (e.g., which may hold an ordered item) may be removable (i.e., separable) from a propulsion portion. In various implementations, the storage compartment portion may be securely attached to the propulsion portion during transport (e.g., requiring an access code to remove and/or open), and the storage compartment portion may similarly be securely attached to the delivery location (e.g., at a docking station) when delivered. In various implementations, the storage compartment portion may be refrigerated, heated, etc., and may include various sensors on the inside and outside of the storage compartment portion (e.g., temperature sensors, motion sensors, image sensors to determine the presence and condition of items and/or to assist with navigation and other operations of the propulsion portion, etc.).

Claims21

Dependent claims

An autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) comprising:

a propulsion portion comprising an upper surface;
a coupling portion that couples a storage compartment portion to the propulsion portion, wherein the storage compartment portion comprises a lower surface that is proximate to the upper surface of the propulsion portion when the storage compartment portion is coupled to the propulsion portion;
a movement mechanism comprising at least one of a roller, a mechanical actuator or a robotic arm configured to move the storage compartment portion off of the propulsion portion after the storage compartment portion is decoupled from the propulsion portion;
and
a control system, comprising:
one or more processors;
and
a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing program instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to at least:
control the propulsion portion to navigate the AGV along a travel path to a delivery location, wherein an item for delivery is contained in the storage compartment portion that is coupled to the propulsion portion;
receive an input of an access code at the delivery location;
in response to the receipt of the access code, control the coupling portion to decouple the storage compartment portion from the propulsion portion;
and
after the storage compartment portion is decoupled from the propulsion portion, control the movement mechanism to move the storage compartment portion off of the propulsion portion at the delivery location to deliver the storage compartment portion to the delivery location and to enable the propulsion portion to depart from the delivery location without the storage compartment portion.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/280,504Filed 29 Sep 2016
Granted: 2 Apr 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification12 codes

B60P 1/6418
The load supporting or containing element being readily removable: the load-transporting element being a container or similar
B60H 1/00014
Combined heating, ventilating, or cooling devices: for load cargos on load transporting vehicles
B60H 1/00771
The input being a vehicle driving condition, e.g. speed: the input being a vehicle position or surrounding, e.g. GPS-based position or tunnel
B60P 7/13
Securing of load: securing freight containers or forwarding containers on vehicles

Family

No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.

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