US 12,441,381 B1Granted

Dolly with clamping mechanism(s)

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorsMark Stiggers, Shailesh Kumar, Anthony Guobin Chan, David Thomas Over

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Abstract

A device includes a deck configured to receive a container and a clamping mechanism configured clamp the container to the deck and unclamp the container from the deck. The clamping mechanism has one or more first fingers and one or more second fingers. The one or more first fingers are actuatable between a first position to clamp the container to the deck, and a second position to unclamp the container from the deck. The one or more second fingers are actuatable between a third position to clamp the container to the deck, and a fourth position to unclamp the container from the deck. The device further includes a button to at least partially control an actuation of at least one of the one or more first fingers or the one or more second fingers, a lighting element configured to illuminate according to an operational status of the clamping mechanism.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A dolly, comprising:

a deck configured to receive a unit load device (ULD);
a clamping mechanism including:
first fingers,
a first motor operably coupled to the first fingers, the first motor being configured to transition the first fingers between a first position in which the first fingers are engaged with a first side of the ULD to clamp the ULD to the deck, and a second position in which the first fingers are disengaged from the first side of the ULD to unclamp the ULD from the deck,
second fingers, and
a second motor operably coupled to the second fingers, the second motor being configured to transition the second fingers between a third position in which the second fingers are engaged with a second side of the ULD to clamp the ULD to the deck, and a fourth position in which the second fingers are disengaged from the second side of the ULD to unclamp the ULD from the deck,
a first button configured to cause the first motor to transition the first fingers between the first position and the second position;
a first lighting element disposed beneath or within the first button;
a second button configured to cause the second motor to transition the second fingers between the third position and the fourth position;
a second lighting element disposed beneath or within the second button;
one or more processors;
and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving data from the first button,
based on the receiving the data:
causing the first lighting element to illuminate to a first color, and
causing the first fingers to transition from the second position to the first position, and
causing the first lighting element to illuminate to a second color that is different than the first color.

15 more elements

A dolly, comprising:

a deck configured to receive a container;
a clamping mechanism configured to transition between a clamped position in which the clamping mechanism clamps the container to the deck, and an unclamped position in which the clamping mechanism unclamps the container from the deck;
an input component configured to control an operation of the clamping mechanism between the clamped position and the unclamped position;
and
an output component configured to output an indication according to an operational status of the clamping mechanism.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.