Methods of locking unmanned aerial vehicles to charging hubs in base stations
AssigneeSkydio, Inc.
InventorsJia Guo, Yevgeniy Andreyevich Kozlenko, George Oliver Turvey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of docking an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a base station. The method includes: landing the UAV on a landing platform of the base station; generally aligning the UAV with a charging hub of the base station; extending the charging hub; and repositioning a locking mechanism on the charging hub from an unlocked position into a locked position to thereby secure the charging hub to the UAV.
Claims20
A method of docking an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a base station, the method comprising:
- landing the UAV on a landing platform of the base station;
- substantially aligning the UAV with a charging hub of the base station;
- extending the charging hub such that the charging hub engages external, lateral surfaces of the UAV to move the UAV in a plane extending in substantially parallel relation to the landing platform;
- and
- repositioning a locking mechanism on the charging hub from an unlocked position into a locked position to secure the charging hub to the UAV.
A method of docking an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a base station, the method comprising:
- landing the UAV on a landing platform of the base station;
- and
- extending a charging hub of the base station to:
- engage external, lateral surfaces of the UAV and move the UAV in a plane extending in substantially parallel relation to the landing platform;
- and
- pivot a locking mechanism on the charging hub into engagement with the UAV and secure the charging hub to the UAV.
A method of docking an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a base station, the method comprising:
- landing the UAV on a landing platform of the base station;
- extending a charging hub of the base station into engagement with external, lateral surfaces of the UAV to move the UAV in a plane extending in substantially parallel relation to the landing platform, wherein extending the charging hub automatically locks the charging hub to the UAV;
- and
- retracting the charging hub out of engagement with the UAV to automatically unlock the charging hub from the UAV.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.