Delivery-location recharging during aerial transport tasks

A method comprising:

• determining that an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has arrived at a delivery location while carrying out a transport task, wherein the transport task comprises at least a first flight segment from a loading location to the delivery location for delivery of a payload, and a second flight segment from the delivery location to a next location, wherein the UAV comprises a winch system comprising a tether disposed on a spool and a motor operable to apply a torque to the spool, wherein a battery of the UAV forms part of the payload, and wherein the payload is coupled to the tether;
• in response to determining that the UAV has landed at the delivery location:
• providing an interface for receiving an indication as to whether or not a return payload will be loaded at the delivery location;
• causing the motor to rotate the spool to unwind the tether;
• and
• initiating a notification process requesting a recipient-assisted recharging process comprising a manual coupling of the battery to a power source at or near the delivery location after the tether has been unwound and while the battery remains coupled to the UAV by way of the tether;
• determining that the recipient-assisted recharging process has recharged the battery of the UAV to a target level;
• when an indication is received that no return payload will be loaded at the delivery location and the recipient-assisted recharging process has recharged the battery to the target level:
• (i) causing the motor to rotate the spool to retract the tether and the battery back to the UAV and (ii) initiating the second flight segment;
• and
• when an indication is received that the return payload will be loaded at the delivery location and the recipient-assisted recharging process has recharged the battery to the target level:
• (i) causing the motor to rotate the spool to retract the tether and the battery back to the UAV, and (ii) determining when the return payload is loaded on or in the UAV, and responsively initiating the second flight segment.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• determining that an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has arrived at a delivery location while carrying out a transport task, wherein the transport task comprises at least a first flight segment to transport a payload from a loading location to a delivery location, delivery of the payload at the delivery location, and a second flight segment from the delivery location to a next location, wherein the UAV comprises a winch system comprising a tether disposed on a spool and a motor operable to apply a torque to the spool, wherein a battery of the UAV forms part of the payload, and wherein the payload is coupled to the tether;
• based on determining that the UAV has arrived at the delivery location, (i) causing the motor to rotate the spool to unwind the tether and (ii) initiating a notification process requesting a recipient-assisted recharging process comprising a manual coupling of the battery to a power source at or near the delivery location after the tether has been unwound and while the battery remains coupled to the UAV by way of the tether;
• determining that the recipient-assisted recharging process has recharged the battery of the UAV to a target level;
• and
• based on determining that the recipient-assisted recharging process has recharged the battery of the UAV to the target level, (i) causing the motor to rotate the spool to retract the tether and the battery back to the UAV and (ii) initiating the second flight segment for the transport task.