Autonomous ground vehicles based at delivery locations
First Claim
1. A system to transport an ordered item, the system comprising:
- a first autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) that is stationed at a first home base location at a first user'"'"'s residence; and
a computing system comprising;
one or more processors; and
a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing program instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to at least;
determine a meeting location which the first AGV will travel to for meeting a transportation vehicle;
receive a notification that indicates an estimated time of when the transportation vehicle is expected to arrive at the meeting location;
instruct the first AGV to travel from the first home base location to the meeting location to meet the transportation vehicle;
determine that a first item from the transportation vehicle has been placed in a storage compartment of the first AGV while the first AGV is at the meeting location; and
instruct the first AGV to travel from the meeting location to the first user'"'"'s residence to deliver the first item.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Autonomous ground vehicles (“AGVs”) are utilized to retrieve items from transportation vehicles (e.g., delivery trucks) for delivery to specified locations (e.g., user residences, etc.). In various implementations, the AGVs may be owned by individual users and/or may service a group of users in a given area (e.g., in an apartment building, neighborhood, etc.). The AGVs may travel out (e.g., from a user'"'"'s residence, apartment building, etc.) to meet a transportation vehicle (e.g., a delivery truck on the street) to receive items, and may be joined by other AGVs that have traveled out to meet the transportation vehicle, and may line up in a particular order (e.g., according to delivery addresses, etc.). After the items are received, the AGVs may travel back (e.g., to the user residences) to deliver the items, and may be equipped to open and close access barriers (e.g., front doors, garage doors, etc.).
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system to transport an ordered item, the system comprising:
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a first autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) that is stationed at a first home base location at a first user'"'"'s residence; and a computing system comprising; one or more processors; and a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing program instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to at least; determine a meeting location which the first AGV will travel to for meeting a transportation vehicle; receive a notification that indicates an estimated time of when the transportation vehicle is expected to arrive at the meeting location; instruct the first AGV to travel from the first home base location to the meeting location to meet the transportation vehicle; determine that a first item from the transportation vehicle has been placed in a storage compartment of the first AGV while the first AGV is at the meeting location; and instruct the first AGV to travel from the meeting location to the first user'"'"'s residence to deliver the first item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 14)
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4. An autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) comprising:
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a propulsion system; a storage compartment having a locking mechanism; and a computing system, comprising; one or more processors; and a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing program instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to at least; receive a notification that indicates an estimated time of when a transportation vehicle is expected to arrive at a meeting location; control the propulsion system to navigate the AGV to the meeting location to meet the transportation vehicle; determine that an item from the transportation vehicle has been placed in the storage compartment while the AGV is at the meeting location; control the locking mechanism to lock the storage compartment of the AGV after it has been determined that the item from the transportation vehicle has been placed in the storage compartment; control the propulsion system to navigate the AGV along a travel path from the meeting location to a delivery location to deliver the item; and control the locking mechanism to unlock the storage compartment at the delivery location to enable the item to be retrieved from the storage compartment at the delivery location. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 16, 17, 19)
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9. A computer implemented method for transporting items, the computer implemented method comprising:
under control of one or more computing systems configured with executable instructions, determining a meeting location to which first and second autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) will travel to meet a transportation vehicle; receiving a notification that indicates an estimated time of when the transportation vehicle is expected to arrive at the meeting location; instructing the first AGV to travel to the meeting location; instructing the second AGV to travel to the meeting location; instructing the first AGV to receive a first item from the transportation vehicle at the meeting location; instructing the first AGV to travel from the meeting location to a first delivery location to deliver the first item; instructing the second AGV to receive a second item from the transportation vehicle at the meeting location; and instructing the second AGV to travel from the meeting location to a second delivery location to deliver the second item. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 20)
Specification