Systems and methods for enabling delivery of commercial products to customers

• US 10,198,708 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2017
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Mattingly, Todd D., Wilkinson, Bruce W., High, Donald R., McHale, Brian G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Brian E
• Application Number:
  US15/813,859
• Publication Number:
  US 20180137463A1
• Time in Patent Office: 447 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0297 Robbery alarms, e.g. hold-up alarms, bag snatching alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 3/00 Audible signalling systems; Audible personal calling systems

Abstract

In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided herein useful to enable delivery of commercial products to customers. In some embodiments, the system comprises an autonomous ground vehicle on a delivery route to deliver commercial products to a person of interest. The AGV comprises control circuits communicatively coupled to sensors. The control circuits, using sensor data, determines whether a person positioned within a threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI; allow the PoI to designate an intention of a second person positioned within the threshold distance as being friendly or adverse relative to the PoI; determine the intention of the second person; receive a command from the PoI overriding the determination that the second person'"'"'s intention is adverse to the PoI; and allow the PoI to take possession of the commercial products when the designated intention is friendly relative to the PoI and the command is received.

Claims

1. An autonomous product delivery system to enable delivery of commercial products to customers comprising:

an autonomous ground vehicle (“

AGV”

) on a commercial delivery route to deliver a commercial product to a person of interest (“

PoI”

), the AGV comprising;

a control circuit; and

a sensor communicatively coupled with the control circuit and configured to communicate sensor data to the control circuit;

wherein the control circuit, based on the sensor data, is configured to;

determine that a person positioned within a threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI;

allow the PoI to designate an intention of a second person positioned within the threshold distance as being one of friendly or adverse relative to the PoI;

determine, using data from the sensor and independent of the intention designated by the PoI, the intention of the second person positioned within the threshold distance as being one of friendly or adverse relative to the PoI;

receive a command from the PoI that overrides the determination that the intention of the second person is adverse to the PoI; and

allow the PoI to take possession of the commercial product when the designated intention of the second person is friendly relative to the PoI and the command from the PoI is received.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the AGV further comprises a wireless transceiver communicatively coupled with the control circuit;

and

in response to determining that the intention of the second person is adverse to the PoI, the control circuit is further configured to cause the transceiver to wirelessly transmit an alert to at least one of a mobile device associated with the PoI, a central control system, and a law enforcement agent; and

the alert comprises information that reflects that the intention of the second person is adverse to the PoI.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the AGV further comprises an audible emitter communicatively coupled with the control circuit;

and

in response to determining that the intention of the second person is adverse to the PoI, the control circuit is further configured to cause the audible emitter to emit an audible alert.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control circuit in determining that the person positioned within the threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI is further configured to:

compare a MAC address received from the person to a predetermined MAC address associated with the PoI; and

determine that the person is the PoI when the MAC address received from the person has a threshold relationship with the predetermined MAC address associated with the PoI.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is a sensor comprising one or more of a camera, a thermographic camera, a time-of-flight camera, a biometric sensor, and a proximity sensor;

and the control circuit, based on the sensor data, is further configured to;

compare the sensor data to a predetermined data associated with the PoI; and

determine that the person is the PoI when the sensor data has a threshold relationship with the predetermined data associated with the PoI.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein in response to the PoI taking possession of the commercial product, the control circuit, based on the sensor data, is further configured to store sensor data associated with one or more of the PoI and the second person while the PoI is positioned within a second threshold distance relative to the AGV.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein in response to the PoI designating the intention of the second person as being adverse to the PoI, the control circuit, based on the sensor data, is further configured to store sensor data associated with the second person while the second person is positioned within the threshold distance.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein

in determining that the person positioned within the threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI, the control circuit is further configured to compare the sensor data to predetermined data associated with the PoI;

and

the sensor data comprises one or more of biometric data and an authentication code.

9. A method of enabling delivery of commercial products to customers comprising:

determining, through an AGV on a product delivery route to deliver a commercial product to a PoI, that a person positioned within a threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI;

allowing, through the AGV, the PoI to designate an intention of a second person positioned within the threshold distance as one of friendly or adverse relative to the PoI;

determining, through the AGV and independent of the intention designated by the PoI, the intention of the second person positioned within the threshold distance as being one of friendly or adverse relative to the PoI;

receiving, through the AGV, a command from the PoI overriding the determination that the intention of the second person is adverse to the PoI; and

allowing, through the AGV, the PoI to take possession of the commercial product when the designated intention of the second person is friendly relative to the PoI and the command from the PoI is received.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising wirelessly transmitting, through the AGV, an alert to at least one recipient in response to determining that the intention of the second person is adverse to the PoI, wherein the recipient is selected from the group consisting of the PoI, a central control system, and a law enforcement agent.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising emitting, through the AGV, an audible alert in response to confirming that the intention of the second person is adverse to the PoI.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining that the person positioned within the threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI comprises:

comparing, through the AGV, a MAC address received from the person to a predetermined MAC address associated with the PoI; and

determining that the person is the PoI when the MAC address received from the person has a threshold relationship with the predetermined MAC address associated with the PoI.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining that the person positioned within the threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI comprises:

capturing data using a sensor selected from a group consisting of a camera, a thermographic camera, a time-of-flight camera, a biometric sensor, and a proximity sensor;

comparing the captured data to a predetermined data associated with the PoI; and

determining that the person is the PoI when the captured data has a threshold relationship with the predetermined data associated with the PoI.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing, through the AGV, sensor data associated with one or more of the PoI and the second person while the PoI is positioned within a second threshold distance relative to the AGV, in response to the PoI taking possession of the commercial product.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing, through the AGV, sensor data associated with the second person while the second person is positioned within the threshold distance, in response to the PoI, designating the intention of the second person as being adverse to the PoI.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining that the person positioned within the threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI comprises comparing, through the AGV, sensor data captured on the product delivery route to predetermined data associated with the PoI, the sensor data comprises one or more of biometric data and an authentication code.