Robotic systems and methods in prediction and presentation of resource availability

• US 20170072568A1
• Filed: 12/24/2015
• Published: 03/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Onemarket Network LLC
• Original Assignee: Westfield Labs Corporation
• Inventors: Hitchcock, Riley James, McElroy, Sarah A., Veloso, Darlene A., Spencer, Edmund James Golby, Barchanowicz, Corrine C., Marabyan, Aram, Kokkonen, Erik Davin, Porter, Brian, Lowy, Joshua Lynton
• Granted Patent: US 10,016,897 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1697 Vision controlled systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/47 Optical

Abstract

Systems and methods to predict and present availability and value of retail spaces in shopping malls. Robots are dispatched to temporary retail spaces to collect at least a portion of operation data stored in a database with leasing data of temporary retail spaces in a mall, tenant coordination data, and subscriber data. A web-based application predicts availability of the temporary retail spaces in the mall based on the leasing data, the tenant coordination data, and the operation data. The web-based application includes an interactive plan of the mall as a user interface for subscribers to access data related to the temporary retail spaces, and process applications for leasing the temporary retail spaces.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a set of robots, wherein each respective robot in the set of robots includes;

a moving mechanism configured to move the robot on a pathway;

a controller configured to operate the robot within an area having a plurality of spaces connected by the pathway;

a body having a shape configured to carry items for delivery; and

a camera mounted on the body and controlled by the controller to take photo images in the area;

a database storing;

status data of the spaces, and

operation data of the robots dispatched to the spaces, including photo images obtained using cameras of the robots;

a server connected to the database and configured to combine the status data and the operation data of the robots to generate a prediction of availability of the spaces; and

a user interface configured to present the prediction.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the robots are dispatched to carry items sold by stores at the spaces to a centralized location for pick up;

and the operation data includes sales data related to delivery of the items from the spaces to the centralized location.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the robots are configured to capture the photo images while being dispatched to the spaces;

and the server is configured to analyze the photo images to determine measurements of the foot traffic in the area, wherein the prediction is based at least in part on the measurements of the foot traffic in the area.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes an interactive plan of vacancy of spaces in the area;

and the interactive plan is configured to present the availability of the spaces and accept applications for leasing spaces predicted to be available in the area.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the prediction includes availability and values of the spaces for rental in a period of time.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the status data includes:

leasing data of the spaces in the area, tenant coordination data, operation data, and subscriber data; and

the prediction is based at least in part on the leasing data, the tenant coordination data, and the operation data.

7. A method, comprising:

providing a set of robots, wherein each respective robot in the set of robots includes;

a moving mechanism configured to move the robot on a pathway;

a controller configured to operate the robot within an area having a plurality of spaces connected by the pathway;

a body having a shape configured to carry items for delivery; and

a camera mounted on the body and controlled by the controller to take photo images in the area;

dispatching the robots to the spaces;

capturing operation data of the robots, including photo images obtained using cameras of the robots;

storing, in a database, status data of the spaces and the operation data of the robots;

combining, by a server connected to the database, the status data and the operation data of the robots to generate a prediction of availability of the spaces; and

providing a user interface to present the prediction.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the robots are configured to carry items from the spaces to a centralized location for pick up.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the operation data includes sales data related to delivery of the items from the spaces to the centralized location.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the area having the spaces includes a shopping mall;

and the spaces are retail spaces.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the prediction includes availability of the retail spaces for rental in a period of time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the prediction includes rental values of the retail spaces in the period of time.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the robots are configured to capture the photo images that are indicative of foot traffic in the area.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

analyzing the photo images to determine measurements of the foot traffic in the area, wherein the prediction is based at least in part on the measurements of the foot traffic in the area.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the status data includes:

leasing data of the spaces in the area, tenant coordination data, operation data, and subscriber data;

and the prediction is based at least in part on the leasing data, the tenant coordination data, and the operation data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the prediction is generated using at least one of:

least squares regression line;

k-nearest neighbors;

linear regression;

logistic regression; and

k-means clustering.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the user interface includes an interactive plan of vacancy of spaces in the area.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the interactive plan is configured to present the availability of the spaces and accept applications for leasing spaces predicted to be available in the area.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the spaces predicted to be available in the area are offered as spaces for pop-up retails.

20. A non-transitory computer storage media storing instructions configured to instruct a computing apparatus to perform the method, the method comprising:

dispatching a set of robots to a plurality of spaces in an area, wherein each respective robot in the set of robots includes;

a moving mechanism configured to move the robot on a pathway;

a controller configured to operate the robot within the area having the plurality of spaces connected by the pathway;

a body having a shape configured to carry items for delivery; and

a camera mounted on the body and controlled by the controller to take photo images in the area;

capturing operation data of the robots, including photo images obtained using cameras of the robots;

storing, in a database, status data of the spaces and the operation data of the robots;

combining, by a server connected to the database, the status data and the operation data of the robots to generate a prediction of availability of the spaces; and

providing a user interface to present the prediction.