Smart on-demand storage for robots

A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

• obtaining first historical location data associated with a first physical robot operating in a smart community, the first historical location data being indicative of a first pattern of locations of the first physical robot over time, the first physical robot comprising as part of its structure a first storage space;
• obtaining second historical location data associated with a second physical robot operating in the smart community, the second historical location data being indicative of a second pattern of locations of the second physical robot over time, the second physical robot comprising as part of its structure a second storage space;
• obtaining a request message from a third physical robot operating in the smart community, the request message comprising a request by the third physical robot to be stored at a third location at an estimated future time;
• and
• responsive to the obtaining the request message:
• predicting, based at least in part upon the first historical location data, a first distance that the first physical robot will be from the third location at the estimated future time;
• predicting, based at least in part upon the second historical location data, a second distance that the second physical robot will be from the third location at the estimated future time;
• selecting, based on the first distance and the second distance, a selected physical robot for storing the third physical robot from among the first physical robot and the second physical robot by:
• (1) in a first case that the first distance is less than the second distance, selecting as a selected physical robot the first physical robot;
• and
• (2) in a second case that the second distance is less than the first distance, selecting as the selected physical robot the second physical robot;
• directing the selected physical robot to move to the third location to provide storage, beginning at the estimated future time, of the third physical robot within the selected physical robot;
• and
• causing the selected physical robot, when moved to the third location, to instantiate software that configures wireless hardware of the selected physical robot to provide additional wireless network capacity for users of a wireless network.

A method comprising:

• obtaining, by a processing system including a processor, first data from a first physical robot operating in a smart community, the first data comprising a first location of the first physical robot, a first estimated time of completion of a first task that the first physical robot is performing, and a first storage availability of the first physical robot;
• obtaining, by the processing system, second data from a second physical robot operating in the smart community, the second data comprising a second location of the second physical robot, a second estimated time of completion of a second task that the second physical robot is performing, and a second storage availability of the second physical robot;
• obtaining, by the processing system, third data from a third physical robot operating in the smart community, the third data comprising a third location of the third physical robot;
• obtaining, by the processing system, a request message from the third physical robot, the request message comprising a request by the third physical robot to be stored at the third location;
• and
• responsive to obtaining the request message:
• determining, by the processing system, whether the first physical robot includes a first storage space sufficiently large to contain the third physical robot;
• determining, by the processing system, whether the second physical robot includes a second storage space sufficiently large to contain the third physical robot;
• selecting, based on the first storage availability and the second storage availability, a selected physical robot for storing the third physical robot from among the first physical robot and the second physical robot, by:
• (1) in a first case that the first physical robot does include a first storage space sufficiently large to contain the third physical robot and that the second physical robot does not include a second storage space sufficiently large to contain the third physical robot, selecting, by the processing system, as a selected physical robot the first physical robot;
• (2) in a second case that the first physical robot does not include a first storage space sufficiently large to contain the third physical robot and that the second physical robot does include a second storage space sufficiently large to contain the third physical robot, selecting, by the processing system, as the selected physical robot the second physical robot;
• directing, by the processing system, the selected physical robot to move to the third location to provide storage of the third physical robot within the selected physical robot;
• and
• causing the selected physical robot, when moved to the third location, to enable wireless hardware of the selected physical robot to act as an edge node of a wireless network.