Modular autonomous ground vehicles

• US 10,245,993 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2016
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brady, Tye Michael, Canavor, Darren Ernest, Evans, Ethan Zane, Mishra, Pragyana K., Siegel, Hilliard Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Odeh, Nadeem
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kerrigan, Michael V
• Application Number:
  US15/280,504
• Time in Patent Office: 915 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00014 for load cargos on load transporting vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00771 the input being a vehicle position or surrounding, e.g. GPS-based position or tunnel
• CPC Class Codes: B60P 1/6418 the load-transporting element being a container or similar
• CPC Class Codes: B60P 7/13 Securing freight containers or forwarding containers on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/021 specially adapted to land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping

Abstract

Autonomous ground vehicles (“AGVs”) are utilized to transport items to delivery locations and may be modular in that a storage compartment portion (e.g., which may hold an ordered item) may be removable (i.e., separable) from a propulsion portion. In various implementations, the storage compartment portion may be securely attached to the propulsion portion during transport (e.g., requiring an access code to remove and/or open), and the storage compartment portion may similarly be securely attached to the delivery location (e.g., at a docking station) when delivered. In various implementations, the storage compartment portion may be refrigerated, heated, etc., and may include various sensors on the inside and outside of the storage compartment portion (e.g., temperature sensors, motion sensors, image sensors to determine the presence and condition of items and/or to assist with navigation and other operations of the propulsion portion, etc.).

Claims

1. An autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) comprising:

a propulsion portion comprising an upper surface;

a coupling portion that couples a storage compartment portion to the propulsion portion, wherein the storage compartment portion comprises a lower surface that is proximate to the upper surface of the propulsion portion when the storage compartment portion is coupled to the propulsion portion;

a movement mechanism comprising at least one of a roller, a mechanical actuator or a robotic arm configured to move the storage compartment portion off of the propulsion portion after the storage compartment portion is decoupled from the propulsion portion; and

a control 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;

control the propulsion portion to navigate the AGV along a travel path to a delivery location, wherein an item for delivery is contained in the storage compartment portion that is coupled to the propulsion portion;

receive an input of an access code at the delivery location;

in response to the receipt of the access code, control the coupling portion to decouple the storage compartment portion from the propulsion portion; and

after the storage compartment portion is decoupled from the propulsion portion, control the movement mechanism to move the storage compartment portion off of the propulsion portion at the delivery location to deliver the storage compartment portion to the delivery location and to enable the propulsion portion to depart from the delivery location without the storage compartment portion.

2. The AGV of claim 1, wherein the movement mechanism comprises rollers.

3. The AGV of claim 1, further comprising a user interface configured to receive input of the access code.

4. The AGV of claim 1, wherein the coupling portion is configured to provide electronic coupling between the storage compartment portion and the control system.

5. The AGV of claim 4, wherein the at least one electronic component of the storage compartment portion comprises at least one of a sensor or a user interface of the storage compartment portion.

6. A delivery system, comprising:

an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) comprising;

a propulsion portion;

a coupling portion configured to couple the propulsion portion to a storage compartment portion;

a movement mechanism comprising at least one of a roller, a mechanical actuator or a robotic arm configured to move a storage compartment portion off of the propulsion portion;

a storage compartment portion comprising a door with 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;

instruct the AGV to travel along a travel path to a delivery location with an item in the storage compartment portion;

instruct the movement mechanism to move the storage compartment off of the propulsion portion; and

instruct the AGV to depart from the delivery location after the storage compartment portion has been decoupled from the propulsion portion and has been delivered to the delivery location.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a docking station at the delivery location with a coupling portion configured to couple the storage compartment portion to the docking station when the storage compartment portion is delivered to the delivery location.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the coupling portion of the docking station is configured to provide electricity to the storage compartment portion.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the coupling portion of the docking station is configured to lock the storage compartment portion to the docking station and require an access code to remove the storage compartment portion from the docking station.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the storage compartment portion further comprises a sensor and the AGV is configured to utilize the sensor for navigation along the travel path to the delivery location.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the storage compartment portion further comprises a cooling mechanism configured to refrigerate the storage compartment portion.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the storage compartment portion further comprises at least one of:

a presence detection sensor configured to detect the presence of the item in the storage compartment portion;

a motion sensor configured to detect movement when the item is placed in the storage compartment portion;

an image capture sensor configured to capture an image of the item in the storage compartment portion;

or

a temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature in the storage compartment portion.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the movement mechanism comprises a roller configured to move the storage compartment portion off of the propulsion portion.

14. A transportation method, comprising:

directing a coupling portion to couple a storage compartment portion to a propulsion portion of an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV);

instructing the AGV to travel to a location where the storage compartment portion is to be delivered;

instructing the coupling portion to decouple the storage compartment portion from the propulsion portion;

instructing a movement mechanism comprising at least one of a roller, a mechanical actuator or a robotic arm to move the storage compartment portion off of the propulsion portion to deliver the storage compartment portion at the location; and

instructing the AGV to depart from the location.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the location is a delivery location that is at a user'"'"'s residence and the method further comprises sending a notification to the user when the storage compartment portion has been delivered to the delivery location.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the location is a delivery location that is inside a user'"'"'s residence and the method further includes instructing the AGV to travel inside the user'"'"'s residence to deliver the storage compartment portion.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the AGV includes an access mechanism and the method further comprises instructing the AGV to utilize the access mechanism to navigate past an access barrier to deliver the storage compartment portion to the location.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the access barrier comprises at least one of a door or a gate and the access mechanism is utilized to wirelessly transmit a signal that causes the access barrier to open.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising instructing the AGV to position the storage compartment portion at the location to be coupled to a coupling portion of a docking station at the location that

locks the storage compartment portion to the docking station.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising instructing the AGV to travel from the location to at least one of:

a meeting area for meeting a transportation vehicle that will further transport the AGV;

a home base location for the AGV;

an AGV facility;

a materials handling facility;

or

a location where another storage compartment portion is to be coupled to the propulsion portion.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the coupling portion is a first coupling portion and the location is a first location, the method further comprising:

directing a second coupling portion to couple the storage compartment portion to a propulsion portion of a second AGV at the first location; and

instructing the second AGV to travel from the first location to a second location where the storage compartment portion is to be delivered.