Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Andre David Brown

Gopi Prashanth Gopal

Rachid M Alameh

Gregory Donald Hager

Ejaz Ahmed

Sudheer Babu Ramoji

Ajay Kumar Ponnuswamy

Kavitha Lingamoorthy

Rani Awale

Jun Ai

Edwin Thorne

Height adjustable trailers and trucks may include height adjustment mechanisms having drive wheels, drive motors, power supplies, and suspension linkages. For example, the suspension linkages may be moved between various positions to adjust the height of a chassis or cargo box of a trailer or truck. In addition, lock mechanisms associated with the suspension linkages may hold various positions and associated heights of the chassis or cargo box. Further, the various heights of the chassis or cargo box may also be associated with different wheelbases of the trailer or truck. The height adjustable trailers or trucks may improve safety, ergonomics, speed, and efficiency of various operations, including transport, loading, unloading, sortation, storage, or others. Moreover, some operations may be (semi-)autonomously performed by trailers having associated control systems, such as various movement, loading, unloading, staging, or other operations within yards of facilities.

Height adjustable trailers and trucks and methods of operation thereof

Inventory monitoring systems are configured for mounting within enclosures such as refrigerators, cabinets, closets or sets of shelves. The inventory monitoring systems include cameras, illuminators and processors provided within housings that are formed from plastics and mounted within an enclosure. The cameras capture images of items entering or departing the enclosure, and other data regarding conditions within the enclosure. The images or data are interpreted by either the inventory monitoring system processors or an external computer system to identify an item depicted therein, to determine whether the item has entered or departed the enclosure, or to otherwise identify conditions within the enclosure. A record of inventory or other conditions within the enclosure may be updated to reflect the entry or departure of the item accordingly, and information regarding the inventory or the conditions within the enclosure, as determined by the inventory monitoring systems, may be utilized for any purpose.

Devices for monitoring inventory within enclosures

Portion of a truck

This disclosure describes, in part, a mobile apparatus for identifying items within a facility using an omnidirectional imaging system. For instance, the mobile apparatus may include a main frame, a chassis attached to the main frame, a basket that attaches to the chassis in order to prevent the basket from contacting the main frame, and an omnidirectional imaging system providing image data in and around the mobile apparatus. A user may place item(s) within a receptacle of the basket. The mobile apparatus may further include a handlebar module attached to the main frame, the handlebar module including the omnidirectional imaging system and a computing system for identifying items and events in and around the cart.

Omnidirectional item identifying mobile apparatus

This disclosure describes, in part, a mobile apparatus that includes capacitive sensor(s) for detecting the presence of a user. For instance, the mobile apparatus, such as a shopping cart, may include capacitive sensor(s) located proximate to a main frame, the handles, and/or the wheel frame. The mobile apparatus may use one or more of these capacitive sensor(s) to determine that the user is located proximate to the mobile apparatus, in contact with the mobile apparatus, and/or located over the main frame of the mobile apparatus. In some examples, the mobile apparatus may then perform one or more actions based on the presence of the user. For example, the mobile apparatus may activate and/or deactivate one or more devices based on the presence of the user. This way, the mobile apparatus is able to conserve power by using the capacitive sensor(s) to detect the present of the user.

Apparatus with presence detection sensors

This disclosure describes, in part, wheel apparatuses that includes weight sensors. For instance, a wheel apparatus may include at least a hub, a rim located around the hub, a tire located around the rim, weight sensor(s) located within the rim, and a caster that connects the wheel apparatus to a mobile apparatus. In some examples, the wheel apparatus may include additional components, such as one or more batteries, a generator, and/or a wireless communication interface. As such, the mobile apparatus may use the wheel sensors included in the wheel apparatuses to determine weights, such as weights of items added to the mobile apparatus. In some examples, the wheel apparatuses are configured such that the weight sensors remain perpendicular with respect to a ground plane so that the mobile apparatus may use the weight sensors to determine the weights even when the mobile apparatus is moving.

Growing community of inventors

Hopkinton, MA, United States of America

Andre David Brown