Modular drone and methods for use

A method performed by a drone, the method comprising:

• receiving, by the drone, navigation path information, wherein the navigation path information comprises a set of designated aerial locations forming a first flight path that traverses a warehouse to pass within range of a plurality of inventory objects located inside the warehouse;
• navigating along the navigation path based on satellite location signals, wherein navigating comprises flying from a first aerial location within the warehouse to a second aerial location within the warehouse;
• determining current position information based on the satellite location signals;
• reading radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag information from a first RFID tag associated with an inventory object of the plurality of inventory objects, wherein the RFID tag information comprises a first identifier associated with the inventory object;
• transmitting the RFID tag information including the identifier associated with the inventory object and the current position information via a wireless client to a central computing system including an inventory management system;
• receiving, by the drone, a search path information comprising a set of search aerial locations forming a search flight path, wherein the set of search aerial locations indicate one or more locations to where a missing inventory object might have been moved;
• and
• navigating along the search flight path through the set of search aerial locations to locate the missing inventory object by reading an RFID tag associated with the missing inventory object.

A network system comprising:

• a plurality of RFID tags affixed to inventory objects located inside a warehouse, the RFID tags storing tag information identifying the inventory objects including identifiers associated with the inventory objects;
• a drone configured to:
• navigate the drone to designated locations within the warehouse, wherein the designated locations form a first flight path that traverses the warehouse to pass within range of a plurality of the inventory objects located inside the warehouse,
• read the tag information from at least one of the RFID tags affixed to the inventory objects located inside the warehouse,
• determine a location of the drone,
• wirelessly transmit the location of the drone and the read tag information,
• receive a second flight path comprising a set of search locations indicating one or more locations to where a missing inventory object might have been moved, and
• navigate through the set of search locations to locate the missing inventory object by reading an RFID tag affixed to the missing inventory object;
• and
• an inventory management system configured to:
• receive the RFID tag information including the identifiers associated with the inventory objects and drone location information from the drone,
• retrieve a record of the inventory object identified by at least one of the identifiers
• update the record with the location of the drone,
• identify a missing inventory object by determining, based on the received RFID tag information, that the missing inventory object is not located in an expected location of the missing inventory object, and
• transmit the second flight path to the drone to locate the missing inventory object.