Automated delivery of good using autonomous robot

• US 9,643,320 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2015
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pharmabot LLC
• Original Assignee: Brendan Boyce Murphy, Haris Godil, Neil S. Davey
• Inventors: Murphy, Brendan Boyce, Davey, Sonya R, Godil, Haris, Davey, Neil S
• Primary Examiner(s): CUMBESS, YOLANDA RENEE
• Application Number:
  US14/706,982
• Publication Number:
  US 20150242591A1
• Time in Patent Office: 732 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 11/008 Manipulators for service tasks
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 11/009 Nursing, e.g. carrying sick persons, pushing wheelchairs, distributing drugs
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1373 for fulfilling orders in warehouses
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot

Abstract

A pharmacy automation system having a robot having a hardware device and a software for internal mapping to perform simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is disclosed herein. The robot is configured to use the SLAM technique to carry out at least the following different interactions: the robot communicates autonomously with a physician or an assistant directly or via an intermediary; the robot interacts with an inventory of goods and browses the inventory of goods to determine if a prescribed medication is available in the pharmacy; if the prescribed medication is available in the pharmacy, the robot interacts with a medication dispenser, using the internal mapping to fill a container with the prescribed medication, and store the container; when a patient or a proxy arrives to pick up the prescribed medication, the robot checks and approves an identification of the patient or the proxy; and when the patient or proxy presents a prescription containing the prescribed medication, the robot retrieves the container with the prescribed medication and hands the container with the prescribed medication over to the patient or proxy.

Claims

1. A method for delivery of a good, comprising:

gathering information regarding a time and location for delivery of the good and mode of pick-up, creating a matrix of all delivery locations and modes of pick-up for each location and verifying each mode as a safe and secure pick-up mode, and delivering the good, further comprising mapping the delivery locations, wherein the mapping is done by a robot, and wherein the mapping includes determining a shortest distance between one or more of a plurality of delivery locations and one or more locations of the good, wherein the robot comprises a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that performs tasks automatically or with guidance, wherein the good is a prescription medication, further comprising assisting a plurality of customers of one or more pharmacies using an autonomous robot for storage and retrieval of the prescription medication deposited in a medical cache, verifying each of the plurality of the customers by the robot with an identification key, mapping at least a portion of the pharmacy, wherein the mapping is done by the robot, and wherein the mapping includes determining a shortest distance between one or more of a plurality of individuals and one or more locations of the prescription medication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the guidance is by remote control.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more locations of the prescription medication has an associated code and each of the plurality of the customers has an identification key, and only when the robot associates the associated code with the identification key does the robot retrieve the prescription medication from the medical cache.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the robot uses a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technique for odometry.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identification key comprises either one, or a combination of a prescription note, a patient record, biometric data, a physical key, a password, an identification card and a medical card.

6. A tangible non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to conduct the method of claim 1.

7. The tangible non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the robot is configured to carry out at least the following interaction:

the robot communicates autonomously with a physician or an assistant directly or via an intermediary;

the robot interacts with an inventory of goods and browses the inventory of goods to determine if the prescribed medication is available in the pharmacy.

8. The tangible non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the robot is configured to also carry out at least the following interaction:

to upload an information of the patient and/or the proxy to a physician directly or an intermediary, the intermediary comprising an online database containing a list of physicians or a cloud network.

9. The tangible non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the guidance is by remote control.

10. The tangible non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein each of the one or more locations of the prescription medication has an associated code and each of the plurality of the customers has an identification key, and only when the robot associates the associated code with the identification key does the robot retrieve the prescription medication from the medical cache.

11. The tangible non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the robot uses a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technique for odometry.

12. The tangible non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the identification key comprises either one, or a combination of a prescription note, a patient record, biometric data, a physical key, a password, an identification card and a medical card.

13. A pharmacy automation system comprising a robot comprising a hardware device and a software for internal mapping, wherein the robot is configured to perform the method of claim 1.

14. The pharmacy automation system of claim 13, wherein the robot is further configured to perform simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), wherein the robot is configured to perform internal mapping of at least a portion of the pharmacy, the internal mapping is done by the robot, and use the internal mapping to fill a container with a prescribed medication, and wherein the internal mapping includes determining a shortest distance between one or more of a plurality of individuals and one or more locations of the prescription medication.

15. The pharmacy automation system of claim 14, wherein the prescription is in a form of a prescription note or a medical card comprising a build-in memory chip containing at least information regarding the prescribed medication.

16. The pharmacy automation system of claim 14, wherein the robot communicates autonomously with a physician or an assistant directly or via an intermediary, the intermediary comprising an online database containing a list of physicians or a cloud network.

17. The pharmacy automation system of claim 14, wherein the hardware device comprises a rotary encoder and a laser.

18. The pharmacy automation system of claim 14, wherein the software comprises a robot operating system.

19. The pharmacy automation system of claim 14, wherein the robot is further configured to upload an information of a patient and/or a proxy to a physician directly or an intermediary, the intermediary comprising an online database containing a list of physicians or a cloud network.

20. The pharmacy automation system of claim 19, wherein the information of the patient comprises information regarding the prescribed medication dispensed to the patient or the proxy.

21. The pharmacy automation system of claim 19, wherein the information of the patient comprises information regarding the prescribed medication dispensed to the patient or the proxy and the information of the proxy comprises biometric data and/or a photograph of the proxy.

22. A method for delivery of one or more goods, comprising:

gathering information regarding a time and location for delivery of the one or more goods and mode of pick-up, creating a matrix of all delivery locations and modes of pick-up for each location and verifying each mode as a safe and secure pick-up mode, and delivering the one or more goods, further comprising mapping the delivery locations, wherein the mapping is done by a robot, and wherein the mapping includes determining a shortest distance between one or more of a plurality of delivery locations and one or more locations of the one or more goods, wherein the robot comprises a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that performs tasks automatically or with guidance, further comprising assisting storage and retrieval of one or more goods deposited in one or more locations using an autonomous robot, verifying one or more recipients at each of the plurality of the delivery locations by the robot with an identification key, mapping at least a portion of an area where the one or more goods are located, wherein the mapping is done by the robot, and wherein the mapping includes determining a shortest distance between the one or more recipients and the one or more locations of the one or more goods.

23. A tangible non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to conduct the method of claim 22.

24. A system comprising a robot comprising a hardware device and a software for internal mapping, wherein the robot is configured to perform the method of claim 22.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the internal mapping performs simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).

26. The method of claim 22, wherein each of the one or more locations of the one or more goods has an associated code and each of the one or more recipients has an identification key, and only when the robot associates the associated code with the identification key does the robot retrieve the one or more goods from the area.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the robot uses a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technique for odometry.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the identification key comprises either one, or a combination of biometric data, a physical key, a password and an identification card.