Autonomous ground vehicles providing ordered items in pickup areas

• US 10,303,171 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2016
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• 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): Mawari, Redhwan K
• Assistant Examiner(s): Torchinsky, Edward
• Application Number:
  US15/280,470
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0011 associated with a remote control arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0297 by controlling means in a control room
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries

Abstract

Autonomous ground vehicles (“AGVs”) containing ordered items travel (e.g., from materials handling facilities, etc.) to pickup areas (e.g., on a street, in a parking lot, inside a store, etc.) where users may retrieve the ordered items from the AGVs. In various configurations, an AGV may have a single storage compartment or may have multiple storage compartments, and multiple AGVs may congregate at a pickup area which may include various facilities/services for the AGVs (e.g., a charging station, a common control station for the AGVs, etc.). Multiple AGVs at a pickup area may be arranged in a particular configuration (e.g., according to a particular order, stacked, etc.), and the configuration may be changed (e.g., when a new AGV arrives and/or when an AGV departs, such as after an ordered item is retrieved from an AGV which then leaves the pickup area to return to a materials handling facility, etc.).

Claims

1. A system to transport ordered items for retrieval by users, the system comprising:

a first autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) comprising;

a first storage compartment having a first locking mechanism;

a first control system configured to control the first locking mechanism; and

a first propulsion portion;

a second AGV comprising;

a second storage compartment having a second locking mechanism;

a second control system configured to control the second locking mechanism; and

a second propulsion portion;

a control station comprising a user interface configured to receive inputs from users, wherein the control station is configured to control the first locking mechanism of the first AGV and to control the second locking mechanism of the second AGV in response to respective inputs from respective users; 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 orders from first and second users for first and second items that are to be retrieved from the first and second storage compartments of the first and second AGVs, respectively;

determine a pickup area where the control station is located and to which the first and second AGVs will travel and where the first and second users may retrieve the first and second items from the first and second AGVs;

provide travel instructions for the first and second AGVs to utilize the first and second propulsion portions to travel to the pickup area where the control station is located;

provide instructions for the control station at the pickup area to control the first locking mechanism of the first AGV to unlock the first storage compartment in response to a first input that is received from the first user at the pickup area; and

provide instructions for the control station at the pickup area to control the second locking mechanism of the second AGV to unlock the second storage compartment in response to a second input that is received from the second user at the pickup area.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first AGV further comprises a third storage compartment having a third locking mechanism that the first control system is further configured to control, and the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to:

receive an order from a third user for a third item that is to be retrieved from the third storage compartment of the first AGV; and

provide instructions for the control station at the pickup area to control the third locking mechanism of the first AGV to unlock the third storage compartment in response to a third input that is received from the third user at the pickup area.

3. The system of claim 1,

wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to:

send a notification to the first user indicating the pickup area and instructions for retrieving the first item from the first storage compartment of the first AGV in the pickup area, wherein the first user is assigned a first access code to enable access to the first storage compartment; and

send a notification to the second user indicating the pickup area and instructions for retrieving the second item from the second storage compartment of the second AGV in the pickup area, wherein the second user is assigned a second access code to enable access to the second storage compartment.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an AGV coupling mechanism that is utilized to physically couple the second AGV to the first AGV in the pickup area after the first and second AGVs each independently travel to the pickup area.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the control station is configured to control the first and second locking mechanisms by:

communicating with the first control system of the first AGV to control the first locking mechanism to unlock the first storage compartment in response to the first input that is received from the first user at the control station; and

communicating with the second control system of the second AGV to control the second locking mechanism to unlock the second storage compartment in response to the second input that is received from the second user at the control station.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first input from the first user includes an input of a first access code on the user interface of the control station, and the second input from the second user includes an input of a second access code on the user interface of the control station.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to provide travel instructions for the first AGV to utilize the first propulsion portion to travel from the pickup area to a materials handling facility after the first user has retrieved the first item from the first storage compartment.

8. A system comprising:

a control station;

a plurality of autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs), wherein each AGV comprises a storage compartment having a locking mechanism and the control station is configured to control each locking mechanism in response to a respective input from a respective user;

wherein a first AGV of the plurality of AGVs comprises;

a propulsion portion;

a first storage compartment having a first locking mechanism; 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 first locking mechanism to lock the first storage compartment after a first item that was ordered by a first user has been placed in the first storage compartment;

receive instructions to travel to a pickup area where the control station is located and where the first user may retrieve the first item from the first storage compartment;

control the propulsion portion to navigate the first AGV along a travel path to the pickup area;

while the first AGV is at the pickup area where the control station is located, receive instructions from the control station to unlock the first storage compartment, wherein the instructions are sent from the control station in response to a first input from the first user at the pickup area; and

in response to the instructions from the control station, control the locking mechanism to unlock the first storage compartment to enable the first item to be retrieved from the first storage compartment by the first user.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a locator device that is configured to assist the first user with locating the first AGV in the pickup area.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising a coupling mechanism that is utilized to physically couple the first AGV to at least one of:

a second AGV in the pickup area;

or

a control station in the pickup area.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the first input that is received from the first user includes an input of an access code on a user interface of the control station at the pickup area.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to determine that a second AGV is present in the pickup area and control the propulsion portion to navigate the first AGV to be positioned relative to the second AGV in the pickup area according to a designated order.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to:

determine that the first item has been retrieved from the first storage compartment by the first user; and

control the propulsion portion to navigate the first AGV along a travel path from the pickup area to

a materials handling facility.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the first AGV further comprises a second storage compartment having a second locking mechanism, and wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to:

while the first AGV is at the pickup area where the control station is located, receive instructions from the control station to unlock the second storage compartment, wherein the instructions are sent from the control station in response to a second input from a second user at the pickup area; and

in response to the instructions from the control station, control the second locking mechanism to unlock the second storage compartment to enable the second item to be retrieved from the second storage compartment by the second user.

15. A system to transport ordered items for retrieval by users, the system comprising:

a first autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) comprising a first storage compartment having a first locking mechanism;

a second AGV comprising a second storage compartment having a second locking mechanism;

a control station comprising a user interface configured to receive inputs from users, wherein the control station is configured to control the first locking mechanism of the first AGV and to control the second locking mechanism of the second AGV in response to respective inputs from respective users; 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;

provide instructions for first and second ordered items that have been ordered by first and second users, respectively, to be placed in the first and second storage compartments of the first and second AGVs while the first and second AGVs are at a materials handling facility;

provide instructions for the first and second AGVs to travel from the materials handling facility to a pickup area where the control station is located and to remain in the pickup area for first and second designated timeframes respectively, during which the first and second items may be retrieved by the first and second users;

provide instructions for the first AGV to depart from the pickup area in response to the control station controlling the first locking mechanism of the first AGV to unlock the first storage compartment and the first item having been retrieved from the first storage compartment by the first user; and

provide instructions for the second AGV to depart from the pickup area in response to the control station controlling the second locking mechanism of the second AGV to unlock the second storage compartment and the second item having been retrieved from the second storage compartment by the second user.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to provide the first user with instructions which include an action that is to be performed by the first user when the first user is in the pickup area to enable the first user to retrieve the first item from the first storage compartment of the first AGV.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the action is an input of an access code that is to be entered by the first user on the user interface of the control station at the pickup area.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the action is to be performed with a mobile device to enable the first user to retrieve the first item.

19. The system of claim 15,

wherein the second designated timeframe overlaps with the first designated timeframe but is different than the first designated timeframe.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to:

provide instructions for a third ordered item that has been ordered by a third user to be placed in a third storage compartment of the first AGV while the first AGV is at the materials handling facility;

send a notification to the first user indicating that the first item may be retrieved from the first storage compartment of the first AGV in the pickup area during the first designated timeframe; and

send a notification to the third user indicating that the third item may be retrieved from the third storage compartment of the first AGV in the pickup area during the first designated timeframe.