Automated docking of unmanned aerial vehicle
AssigneeSkydio, Inc.
InventorsYevgeniy Kozlenko, Jack Zhu, Gareth Cross, Teodor Tomic, Adam Bry, Abraham Galton Bachrach
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described herein are systems for automated docking of an unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, some systems include a landing surface configured to hold an unmanned aerial vehicle; a box configured to enclose the landing surface in a first arrangement of the dock and expose the landing surface in a second arrangement of the dock; and a retractable arm, wherein the landing surface is positioned at an end of the retractable arm and the retractable arm is configured to extend to move the landing surface outside of the box and contract to pull the landing surface inside of the box.
Claims20
A method of docking an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
- controlling a propulsion mechanism of the UAV to cause the UAV to approach a dock;
- horizontally adjusting a landing surface of the dock to facilitate landing of the UAV;
- analyzing a first fiducial located on the landing surface based on one or more images captured by the UAV;
- controlling the propulsion mechanism to cause the UAV to land on the landing surface based on analysis of the first fiducial;
- and
- reconfiguring a box of the dock between a first arrangement in which the box encloses the landing surface and a second arrangement in which the landing surface is exposed.
A method of docking an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
- determining a pose of a first fiducial located on an outer surface of a freestanding dock defining an enclosure configured to receive a single UAV;
- causing the UAV to fly to a first position in a vicinity of a landing surface of the dock based on the pose of the first fiducial;
- adjusting the landing surface;
- determining a pose of a second fiducial located on the landing surface;
- causing the UAV to land on the landing surface based on the pose of the second fiducial;
- and
- automatically charging the UAV while the UAV is on the landing surface.
A method of docking an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
- adjusting a landing surface of a freestanding dock defining an enclosure configured to receive a single UAV;
- hovering the UAV above the landing surface until stability conditions are met;
- and
- causing the UAV to land on the landing surface upon meeting the stability conditions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.