SYSTEMS FOR AUTONOMOUS ITEM DELIVERY
First Claim
1. A system for autonomous item delivery, comprising:
- a mothership, comprising;
a freight bay, configured to store one or more autonomous delivery units (ADUs);
a scheduling and control computer, configured to;
identify a set of item transactions along an item route, each item transaction comprising a delivery or a pick-up of an item at an item location;
divide the set into a first set of manual item transactions and a second set of autonomous item transactions for execution by the one or more ADUs;
determine ADU departure and return locations based on the first set and the second set;
generate a mothership manifest indicating the transactions in the first and second set; and
communicate the item transactions in the second set to the one or more ADUs; and
the one or more ADUs, each ADU configured to automatically;
receive item information from the mothership;
travel from the mothership to a location indicated by the item information;
deliver or pick-up an item at the location indicated by the item information; and
return to the mothership.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for autonomous item delivery and/or pick up are provided. IN some aspects, a mothership travels along an item route. One or more autonomous delivery vehicles may be dispatched from the mothership as the mothership progresses along the route. Each of the autonomous delivery vehicles may deliver and/or pick-up one or more items at one or more item locations. In addition, as the mothership progresses along its route, it may also stop to facilitate the manual delivery and/or pick-up of additional items via a human operator. Upon completing their delivery and/or pick up tasks, the autonomous delivery vehicles return to the mothership, either at the point at which they dispatched from the mothership, or at a different location along the item delivery route.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A system for autonomous item delivery, comprising:
-
a mothership, comprising; a freight bay, configured to store one or more autonomous delivery units (ADUs); a scheduling and control computer, configured to; identify a set of item transactions along an item route, each item transaction comprising a delivery or a pick-up of an item at an item location; divide the set into a first set of manual item transactions and a second set of autonomous item transactions for execution by the one or more ADUs; determine ADU departure and return locations based on the first set and the second set; generate a mothership manifest indicating the transactions in the first and second set; and communicate the item transactions in the second set to the one or more ADUs; and the one or more ADUs, each ADU configured to automatically; receive item information from the mothership; travel from the mothership to a location indicated by the item information; deliver or pick-up an item at the location indicated by the item information; and return to the mothership. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A computer-implemented method for automated transfer of items, the method comprising:
-
under control of one or more processors of a mothership, identifying a set of item transactions along an item route, each item transaction comprising a delivery or a pick-up of an item at an item location; dividing the set into a first set of manual item transactions and a second set of autonomous item transactions for execution by one or more autonomous delivery units (ADUs) located within the mothership; determining ADU departure and return locations based on the first set and the second set; generating a mothership manifest indicating the transactions in the first and second set; communicating a first item transaction of the second set to a first ADU of the one or more ADUs; at a first ADU departure location, causing the first ADU to leave the mothership to execute the first item transaction; and at a first ADU return location, causing the mothership to receive the first ADU subsequent to execution of the first item transaction. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification